"There!" cried Diamond, who was still looking after the little girl.
"I'm sure the wind will blow her over, and perhaps kill her.
Do let me go."

They had been sweeping more slowly along the line of the street.
There was a lull in the roaring.

"Well, though I cannot promise to take you home," said North Wind,
as she sank nearer and nearer to the tops of the houses, "I can promise
you it will be all right in the end. You will get home somehow.
Have you made up your mind what to do?"

"Yes; to help the little girl," said Diamond firmly.

The same moment North Wind dropt into the street and stood,
only a tall lady, but with her hair flying up over the housetops.
She put her hands to her back, took Diamond, and set him down in
the street. The same moment he was caught in the fierce coils of
the blast, and all but blown away. North Wind stepped back a step,
and at once towered in stature to the height of the houses.
A chimney-pot clashed at Diamond's feet. He turned in terror,
but it was to look for the little girl, and when he turned again
the lady had vanished, and the wind was roaring along the street
as if it had been the bed of an invisible torrent. The little girl
was scudding before the blast, her hair flying too, and behind her
she dragged her broom. Her little legs were going as fast as ever
they could to keep her from falling. Diamond crept into the shelter
of a doorway, thinking to stop her; but she passed him like a bird,
crying gently and pitifully.