Dick and Brownie
eing traced by her uncle and taken back, a dread which had in the old days lain always like a shadow on her life. Now, the worst had happened, and was over, for the law had dec
the vicar and Miss Rose Carew, and to the care of Mrs. Perry, to be
forget that home-coming, that drive back t
"It seems weeks and weeks ago! Oh, how lovely everything is! It seems as if I didn't notice it enough till now;" and she drew in long breaths
nce yesterday, brownie; but even the brownies could
," thought Hul
ve and gratitude for all the goodness shown to her made her feel, a moment later, ashamed of her shyness. God had been so good to her, how could she be so
er presently. Young though she was, she could see that if she had not had this trial to go through, she would
e, and to sing hymns, but only now did He become real to Huldah, her very only loving Father, and her heart swelled with love and g
big strong Father and a Brother to watch over one!" A
tering of the birds in the hedge, Rob's short, sharp steps on the hard road, and the scrunching o
ght, amid the e
Thou
ark, and I am
Thou
feet; I do
ene,-one step
so grateful, so full of thankfulness and faith, they could not help it. And ever after, when Huldah p
ls had sprung up and burst into bloom before anyone had quite realised that their time had come. In t
n one sweet tangle of beauty. She was very, very happy in those days, and busy from morning till night. She had her house-work, her school-work, and also her basket-making, and she worked very hard indeed at the last, for by means of it she was a
too," she thought, joyfully,-for Huldah did not love schoo
o run and play in the spring-time, and on the top of the hillock lay the trunk of
was lovely, she could look right down over the slope of the hill to the woods and stream at the foot, and then away up over the moorland beyond,
nce they had their tea there. But Mrs. Perry was not very fond of sitting out of doors, an
rms, they made her feel ill, and frightened her, until all her nerves were set quivering. Huldah herself f
light was going, she lifted her eyes from her work and looked about her. "I'd bette
and ready to send away before she went back to school. She glanced down hesitatingly at her unfinished work, and then at the gatheri
rtha would be worrying. She glanced across at the cottage, and there
"Run on, Dick, and tell her I'm c
which Miss Rose had made for her,-but before she was ready a sharp bark from Dick made her wheel round quickly. A strange, shabbily dressed woman was standing
ng of trouble at her heart that she could not account for. The new-comer looked har
Huldah saw that her face was white and frightened, and in sudden a
nd her heart almost stop beating, for the tramp was Aunt Emma! Aunt Emma, come to cross her path once more. Aunt Emma, sh
r face lightened a little, and she
ul, whining voice. "I know you don't want to see me again, nobody does,
asped Huldah f
ill he comes out, I know. I've sold the van and everything. I couldn't go round with it by meself, but th
" asked Hulda
ead. He dropped down
im, wasn't it? He died
poor dear old Charlie!" she cried, "and-and
coldly. "I wouldn't have been so
ah g
nobody don't seem to want any,-leastways not of me," and neither of her listeners w
o get food or a bed, leav
come. Was it only to beg?
nd a comfortable home, and plenty to eat and drink. You surely wouldn't
from the time her mother died until she made her escape
our baskets, and it don't seem fair tha
friends don't. I have what I earn, to buy what I like with. I bu
t to be paying you wages for being a little
nearly as hard as I did for you, when I never had a
at her door watching them, looked so frightened when their words rose high, and
you that," said Huldah, gently. "It's all I ha
ndly, "if your- if Mrs. Smith will come in and rest,
ed anything since yesterday," she added, feebly; and, now that the eagerness
"I couldn't keep away. I haven't a friend or relation in the world but her, nor nowhere to go,-but the workhouse, and I can't go there. I'd rather die under a hedge. I've always been so used to the open, and my freedom, and I couldn't bear it. Bu
e thunder seemed to add horror to the hopeless misery of
do really. You shan't starve,-not while I can work. I'll
egun. The hunger and want and loneliness had worn her health and spirit until a
were taking their tea. Things had suddenly become
nd ever." She was so lost in perplexity about Aunt Emma's future, that Mrs. Perry was left to entertain their guest
ot to thank anybody for anything-that's one thing!" the poor foolish woman kept rep
aken in the two friendless waifs. Dick and Huldah would have loved this woman too, if she had allowed them to. She
nt me to love them?" s
Dick, and that poor old horse,
rs first, and self last. She ceased her complaining, as she realised for the first time that others besides herself had something to c
ut things. The matter seemed so puzzling, so complicated, she could not sort out the right
ll you come back," she said, hospita
very soberly, for there was a sense of depression weighing on her, a foreboding that an end was comin
had done little but bring trouble to them all ever since she had walked into their l
the top of the littl
rning, and once again
, as though they stil
er
feet; I do n
ene,-one step
d of care slipped off her heart, leaving her with a brave dete