orning I put on my
considering cap an' was a-thinking and a-thinking when who should pop
her face in but my cousin Betty Higgins as lives at Hampstead. 'La,
Betty,' I says, 'where have you dropped from?' 'Ah,' says she, 'you may
well say that. I've been a-comin' for goodness knows how long knowin' as
my clothes line was a-gettin' as rotten as rotten could be. Yesterday
the wind caught the sheets and blankets as I'd just hung out an' down
they all plumped on a muddy patch an' had to be dropped in the tub
again. I wasn't a-goin' to have that happen a second time so I've come
up to buy a new line in Long Lane an' some soap at Couplands an' here I
be as large as life.' That put a notion in my head, Lavvy, my dear. I
told her about you and she's promised me a little room as she don't use
much, an' that's where you're going when you've had a sleep."

"Oh, Hannah, how good you are," cried Lavinia between her kisses. "But
Hampstead! Why, that's where all the fashion goes! The Hampstead water
cures everything they say."

"May be," rejoined Hannah dryly. "But there's other things besides as
I'll warrant the quality like better than the well water--nasty stuff it
is. I once drank a glass at Sam's coffee house at Ludgate where it's
brought fresh every morning and it nearly turned my stomach. There's
music an' dancing in the Pump Room and dicing and cards at Mother Huff's
near the Spaniards, aye an' lovemaking in the summer time by moonlight.
I dunno if it's a safe place for a mad young thing like you to be living
at when the sparks are roaming about."

"Pooh!" retorted Lavinia tossing her head. "I ought to know how to take
care of myself."

"Yes, you ought. But can you?"

"You silly old Hannah. Hampstead can't be worse for me than London."

"Perhaps not. If you couldn't be guarded at the Queen Square boarding
school with a female dragon as can use her eyes, why there's no place in
the world where the men won't chase you."

"Well, it's not my fault. _I_ don't chase _them_."

"There's no need for you to do that, you baggage. You've only got to
give any one of them a glance and he gallops after you."

"What am I to do if I can't alter myself?"

"Goodness knows. Things must go their own way I suppose. You can't stop
here, that's sure. It'll have to be Hampstead. But don't forget I've
warned you."

Then they both crept up to Hannah's room, and at six o'clock the next
morning they were astir, Lavinia making a hurried breakfa