"Do gipsies steal children now?" asked Hope.
"They wouldn't steal any of you," said Granny with a little laugh; "you are not worth the risk!"
She went indoors again, and Charity said a little indignantly:
"Granny thinks nothing at all of us, but they might steal us, and make us their servants."
"Wouldn't it be fun?" said Hope with gleaming eyes. "And we would eat rabbits in a pot over a bonfire, and live in the fields always. Oh, I wish our home was a van!"
"I like this cottage better," said Faith gravely; "that woman looked most uncomfortable, and her bed was all in a muddle!"
Faith heard no more of Dan and his mother, but she did not forget them, and every night prayed for the sick woman.
Lady Melville was as good as her word. She came to see Granny, and Aunt Alice went over to the neighbouring town to see this governess who might help them.
Every day got warmer and longer. The children soon became friends with the neighbours round. The rector had no family. He was an old man, and his wife was very rheumatic, so was confined to the house a great deal, but the doctor, who lived at the other end of the village, had a little boy who was very delicate, and one day Hope and Faith met him in the village shop buying sweets.
Hope made friends with him by telling him which sweets she thought were the nicest. He was a slim little boy, with brown hair and pale face, and when he come out of the shop, he said: