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