And is it thus you have come back to your poor old Hannah again!"

Nothing could have comforted Daisy more under present circumstances
than to find herself in her old nurse's arms. She quite gasped with
the joy and relief, and putting up her little hand to Hannah's face,
she stroked it fondly.

"Now, my darling, where have you come from? and what are you doing?
and--why, if that isn't the little Pink, I declare! Now, my pet, tell
me, have you all three come back to Rosebury again?"

"No, Hannah, I'm the only one who has come back. Oh Hannah, will you
please take me to our little cottage for a few hours--I should so like
to die there--I was born there, wasn't I, Hannah?"

"Yes, love, but you're not going to die there, nor nowhere else. I
can't take you back to the cottage, dearie, for it's let, and I'm not
living there. I've a little bit of a place of my own in the village of
Teckford and I keep a small shop, and don't do so bad. You must come
home now with me, darling. Oh, yes, you must--not a word must you say
against it; then, when you've rested, and have had some nice bread and
milk, you shall tell old Hannah your story; and if so be as you're in
any trouble, why, your old nurse Hannah will set her wits to work to
find a way out of it. Now, my darling, I'm going to carry you to my
cottage."

Daisy was certainly very weak. She tried to expostulate with
Hannah--she tried to say that her one and only duty was to try and get
tidings of Mrs. Ellsworthy's whereabouts, and then to follow her on
foot if necessary; but if the little spirit was willing, the flesh was