"Here, young woman, let me get out o' this. Where is the door? I never did see such a place for passages and doors never, an' I wouldn't a come if I'd knowed she lived with such grand folk!"
Poor Christina witnessed Susy's flight with great disappointment. She was not scolded; for Miss Loder knew by this time how sensitive her little pupil was, but it was represented to her that though she might visit Susy in her home, Susy must never visit her in hers.
"But," pleaded the child sorrowfully, "Susy has no home, she only lives in a cart; and Miss Bertha told me that the rich and poor could be friends, so why can't Susy and me be friends?"
"If it is fine to-morrow, you can run over to Miss Bertha and ask her to befriend this little girl. If she is honest and respectable, Miss Bertha will help her, but she mustn't come here. Your mother doesn't like it."
So Christina had to comfort herself by the thought of Miss Bertha, and went to bed that night praying that God would give Susy a pretty home very soon, and let it be, if possible, in Hatherbrook village.
[CHAPTER IX]
THE GHOST
THE next afternoon, when lessons were over, Miss Loder and Christina went out for their walk, and the governess was persuaded to call at Miss Bertha's on the way.
They found the old lady in her garden, trying to cut some holly from a very thick tree.
"Ah!" she said with a little sigh. "Why is it so many good things are kept just out of our reach? All the brightest berries are at the top of the tree."