utlined against the sky, and--stranger sight still--long rows of women
in flapping sun-bonnets bending patiently to their labour in the fields.
Beyond these, a little collection of thatched roofs, and grey church,
and yellow stacks, made up the village of Wavebury; after that, downs
again as far as the eye could reach.

It was, indeed, a "lonesome" place, and there was something "terr'ble"
in its solitude compared to the comfortable closeness and crowding
chimneys of Buzley's Court; but, fortunately for Biddy, her busy life at
Truslow Manor did not leave much leisure for dwelling upon this. As
time went on she and her mistress, drawn together by one common
interest, became really attached to each other; the baby's crumpled red
hand, which could just hold one of Biddy's fingers, kept her a willing
prisoner in its feeble yet mighty grasp, and all went on well. For Mrs
Roy was not disappointed in her hope of finding her little nurse a
support and comfort, and valued her opinion highly with regard to the
baby's ailments; true, it was sometimes rather irksome and annoying to
hear so often that "our" Johnnie, or "Julia," or "Stevie" had cut their
teeth and felt their legs exactly in the same way as dear little Dulcie.
Mrs Roy naturally felt it impossible that there should be another baby
the least like Dulcie; but she was wise enough to conceal this, and to
allow Biddy's confidences about Buzley's Court and the Lane family to
flow on unchecked.

So, despite the strangeness of many things in Wavebury, and their
contrast to all she had been used to, Biddy was happy, and soon began to
feel at home there; but she did not cease to wonder at some country
customs, and amongst them the fact which specially struck her, that
nearly all the women worked in the fields as well as the men. When in
her errands to and from the village she passed these tramping along the
roads, she stared at them with astonishment that did not lessen with
time. Everything about them was so curious. Their deeply lined faces
were red with wind and weather and old before their time--made harsher,
too, than nature intended, because all the hair was tucked away under
the cotton sun-bonnet, which were the most feminine-looking of their
garments, the rest of which gave a general effect of coarse sacking
ending in heavy boots.

Biddy singled out one of these women as an object of almost fearful
interest, and got into a way of watching for her as she passed Tru