nd began chatting away about all her family, and then she caught sight
of Betty.

'Why, it's my little friend!' she said, stooping down and kissing her;
'and are these your brothers and sisters?'

Betty got crimson with delight, and introduced one after the other with
great importance, and Nesta won all their hearts at once by joining
them in their frolic. Her laugh was as gay as theirs, and she could
run as fast as any of them.

'You're rather a nice grown-up person,' said Douglas approvingly, as at
last she took her leave; 'you aren't so dull and stupid as grown-up
people generally are! Will you come and see us one day at our farm?
I'll take you to see the sweetest white mice in the stable that Sam
keeps, and there's heaps of easy trees to climb in the orchard, if you
like climbing!'

'And I'll show you a baby calf only two days old,' put in Molly, 'and
three black and white kittens in a loft, with a lot of apples one end.
We've jolly things at our farm, if you'll only come.'

'And a see-saw and a swing,' added the twins.

'And what will Betty show me?' asked Nesta, amused.

'I think I'll show you the flowers, and the forget-me-nots and
watercress in the brook,' said Betty meditatively.

'Then I really must come, with such an enchanting programme before me,'
said Nesta; and she kissed them all round, told nurse she envied her
her little family, cracked some jokes with old Crump and his wife, and
departed, leaving behind her a breezy brightness and cheeriness that
she brought with her wherever she came.

'A pleasant young lady,' said nurse; 'who is she, Mrs. Crump?'

'Ah, well,' said Mrs. Crump, shaking her head solemnly; 'there's a sad
story attached to the family. My niece, what the master and I have
brought up like one of our own children, has got the sitivation as maid
to Mrs. Fairfax, and she knows all the ins and outs of their trouble as
no one else do. You see, this is how it is! They were a Lunnon
family, and come down here first for change of air. They took lodgings
in Mrs. Twist's farm; there were Mrs. Fairfax and the two young ladies,
and a dashing young gentleman, the son, who came down for a day or two
at a time, but he never stayed long. Mrs. Fairfax were proud as proud
could be, and very cold and stern-like except to her son, so Jane says,
and him she couldn't do enough for; her heart was just bound up in him!
Jane went back with them to Lunnon, but she says the way the young
gentleman