no one at Mortgrange suspected the nurse as personally interested in the
ugly heir left in her charge! No one dreamed that the child's aunt had
forsaken her husband to nurse him, and was living _for_ him day and
night. She, in her turn, had promised her sister never to leave him, and
this pledge strengthened the bond of her passion. The only question was
_how_ she was to be faithful to her pledge, _how_ to carry matters when
she was turned away. With those thin, close-pressed lips in her mind's
eye, she could not count on remaining where she was beyond a few days.

She was not only a woman capable of making up her mind, but a woman of
resource, with the advantage of having foreseen and often pondered the
possibility of that which was now imminent. The same night, silent above
the sleep of her darling, she sat at work with needle and scissors far
into the morning, remodelling an old print dress. For nights after, she
was similarly occupied, though not a scrap or sign of the labour was
visible in the morning.

The crisis anticipated came within a fortnight. Lady Ann did not show
herself a second time in the nursery, but sending for Jane, informed her
that an experienced nurse was on her way from London to take charge of
the child, and her services would not be required after the next morning.

"For, of course," concluded her ladyship, "I could not expect a woman of
your years to take an under-nurse's place!"

"Please your ladyship, I will gladly," said Jane, eager to avoid or at
least postpone the necessity forcing itself upon her.

"I intend you to go--and _at once_," replied her ladyship; "--that is,
the moment Mrs. Thornycroft arrives. The housekeeper will take care that