At the Back of the North Wind

d to go. One old gentleman who lived near the stables hired him to carry him into the city every morning at a certain hour. And Diamond was as regular as

went home and left Diamond to drive the cab for the rest of the day. It was hard for old Diamond to do all the work but

ght go and ask Mr. Raymond to take him to see Nanny. Mr. Raymond was quite w

w a number of little iron beds. Each one of them stood with its head to the wall and in each one was a child whose face showed just how far it had l

said Mr.

t here,” sa

es, sh

’t see

ough. The

ight in front of wher

Nanny!” cr

n her a great many times sinc

rent.” He said nothing aloud, only stared. And as he stared, something of the face of the old Nanny began to come out in the face of the new Nanny. The old Nanny had been s

ck — as she once had carried him — and changed her from a rough girl to a gentle maiden? As he gazed, the best of the old face, the good and true par

u know me?” asked Diamond. She only smiled again. She was not likely to forget him. To be sure, she did not kno

ddle of the room and told them a nice fairy story. He often did that and the children watched for his visits. After he finished

to see if he would do anything for any body else. For that would be the very best way to find out if it were worth while to do anything for him . So as they walked away together, he said to little Diamond, “Nanny must leave the hospital soon, D

en long ago. I couldn’t bear to see Nanny fighting for it, especially with the poor lame boy who has taken it. Be

ght away in the wet. If somebody could only teach her something to do it would be bette

ch her that!” int

m,” Mr. Raymond went on, “she might get a place as nurs

d. “She could learn to dress our bab

en. And your father, not being strong,

ith it. When he gets tired of driving, up I get. And I

ve my horse while I am gone. He is nearly as old as your Diamond. I don’t want to part with him and yet I don’t want him to be idle. Nobody ought to

mond. “And he will come

e useful and keep her as long as he had Mr. Raymond’s horse. Diamond’s father could not help thinking that it was a pretty close bargain and so it was. Mr. Raymond wanted to find out if Diamond’s father was the kind of man who was willing to help s

hen he had to help mind his baby brother for part of the time. So he did not go to the hospital as often as he would have liked. When he did go, he sat by Nanny’s bed and told

nd let me stroke her hand. She had on a most beautiful ring with a rich red stone in it. When she saw me looking at it, she sli

Ruby. And we took him so that we could take you to live with us, whil

began with a red sunset like my darling ruby ring. Then somehow a wind came out of it a

now!” cried Diamond. “Tha

set but a great golden moon hanging very low and seeming to be shining just to be good to me. It was easy, I suppose, for me to

iamond. “You are not going back to

ood to be true

to be true? To be true is to be the very best thing of

ebody must first be good to you, don’t you think, before you can learn how to be good to any body else? Isn’t that so? But where was I in my dream? Oh yes, the big yellow moon came down closer and closer to the grass in front of me. Then somehow, it seemed to be my r

though she doesn’t know it. Maybe the moon does just the same. What if it should

Nanny had closed her eyes as if she were tired or