[CHAPTER V]
"TOO FAITHFUL"
"PEGGY, Miss Joyce and I have to go away for a night. We are wondering about you, but Mrs. Timson, our next neighbour up the road, has kindly said she will let you sleep at her cottage. In fact, I think we had better lock up the house, and you go to her altogether."
But this did not suit Peggy at all. Here was an occasion to prove her trustworthiness!
"Oh, please 'm, I've a lot o' cleanin' to do. I would be ever so careful. Miss Joyce has showed me how to clean my brass fireirons, in my drawin' room, and I wants to scrub out my cupboards, and I has two aprons to wash, and, please 'm, there ought to be some one to take care of the 'ouse, 'cause of burglars!"
"We are not afraid of burglars down here," said Helen, with a smile. "And there is 'Albert Edward'; he can be tied up to guard the place."
"Albert Edward," was a new importation. He was a rough-haired terrier that had been presented by the vicar, and he was a formidable watch-dog. Peggy and he were great friends, and they had many mutual likes and dislikes.
"Yes 'm, Albert Edward and me will take care of everything beautiful."
In the end a compromise was made. Peggy was allowed to stay in the house till four o'clock in the afternoon, then she was to go to Mrs. Timson.
She stood at the gate a proud and happy girl when her mistresses departed the next morning. She watched them out of sight, then stayed a minute in the front garden, gazing at a clump of snowdrops, the only flowers then in bloom.