The good man had pulled up his horse, and was staring at her in a puzzled fashion; but Dreamikins seized hold of his whip and whipped the horse so smartly that he trotted on.
"YOU DIDN'T KNOW I WAS THERE; DID YOU?"
"Let me have the reins," she said; "now, do let me. I want to drive hunderds of miles away, and lose myself the other side of the world."
"What be your name, and where do you come from?" asked the carter.
"I've runned away, and I shan't tell you nothing about me."
He rubbed his head, looked back along the road, which seemed empty for a long way behind them, then seized his reins, which were already in Dreamikins' hands, and drove rapidly on.
"I'd best take her to the Missus. Her 'll know what to do with her."
Then Dreamikins began to chatter in her gay, inconsequent fashion, and the man listened to her in great bewilderment, and was very relieved when at last they arrived at a big farmhouse. He drove into the yard, and in a moment or two there was quite a little crowd round them—his wife, two farm-hands, the farmer and his wife, and two maid-servants. Dreamikins was taken possession of by Mrs. Dufty, the farmer's wife.
"Come along, my pretty! Wherever did you come from? Hid in the cart, did you? Oh, fie! And what will your daddy and mummy say?"