Fortunately it was quite dark when the cart passed through the village,
so that no one noticed whom John Kane had got cowering down in his cart
behind the logs of timber. When he stopped at his own door his wife came
out, and he said to her in a low voice:

"Look you here, Anne, if I haven't brought you home little Hetty a
second time out of trouble. Found her on the road I did, with her ankle
sprained. We'll take her in for the present, and I'll go to the Hall and
tell the gentlefolks."

Mrs. Kane had just been making ready her husband's tea, and the fire was
burning brightly in her tidy kitchen, making it look pretty and
homelike. She was greatly astonished at her husband's news, and came to
the cart at once, though with a soreness at heart, remembering her last
meeting with Hetty, and thinking how little pleasure the child would
find in this enforced visit to her early home.

"Now hurry away to the Hall and give the message," said Mrs. Kane; "your
tea will keep till you come back. Little Miss Gray will be anxious to
get home to those who are expecting her."

"Oh, please let him take his tea first," cried Hetty; "there will be no
hurry to get me back. I have been very naughty and everyone will be
angry with me. Please, Mr. Kane, take your tea before you go."

John Kane smiled. "Thank you, little maid; but you see the horses are
wanting to go home to their stable. And I'd rather finish all my work
before I sit down."