So uncle and niece started off together, the latter eager to point out every object of interest. As they stood on the bridge above the river she told him how Mr. Harding's house was built over the water.
"It used to frighten me to think about it," she confessed, "but now I don't mind so much. We can't always hear the river—only when the tide is high, and the weather is very bad. I have to cross this bridge every day on my way to school."
"And you are happy, my dear?" he asked tenderly.
"Much happier than I was at first," she answered, "because everyone is very kind to me. But first of all I was dreadfully miserable—it was all so different from what I thought it would be like."
"It is different from what I expected, too," he acknowledged. "I'm sure if Eliza had guessed what her cousin's home was like she would never have consented to your being taken away from us. I am sure I thought—"
Mr. Dawson paused abruptly, doubtful if he ought to tell what he thought; instead, he said—
"Does Mr. Harding give you everything you want, my dear? Plenty of good food, and—"
"Oh, yes!" Mousey broke in; "although we don't always have such a nice tea as we had to-day," she added, with simple honesty.
"And your cousin is kind to you?"
"Very kind. I used to be afraid of him, but I'm not a bit now. But he is not like you, Uncle Dick; he never goes to church, and—" dropping her voice to a mysterious whisper— "a great many people call him a miser. John Monday says he's the meanest man he ever knew."