[CHAPTER V.]
WINNY'S SACRIFICE.
RUTTER'S sudden death was pretty freely discussed among the neighbours, and very little pity was expressed for his untimely fate by anybody but Winny Chaplin, and she drew nearer to Lizzie, to shield her as it were from the hard criticism of the neighbourhood. They moved back to their old house as soon after the funeral as they could, and the week after this, Annie came home from prison.
Her coming, so eagerly looked forward to by her father, was a pain to everybody who knew her. Winny had planned with Brown how the home-coming should be managed. He was to meet her at the prison gates and bring her straight home to Winny first, for the stigma of having been in prison would be sure to cling to her and make some of her old friends avoid her for a time. So Winny was determined to help the girl if she could. But no one was prepared for the fierce, proud bearing of the girl, who felt herself wronged and yet degraded by being sent to prison. She would not see anyone, she declared, she would not come near the place to be stared at, she would even have left her father if she could, and it was not until dusk that he could coax her back to her home with him.
Winny had been on the watch for her all day, for she had a piece of news to impart to Annie, something they had talked of together very often. Her teacher, Miss Lavender, had at last been able to get a ticket for her to go away into the country for a fortnight, and she wanted to tell Annie about it. They could talk about this and forget all about the dreadful prison, she thought. For Annie had not certainly deserved such a severe sentence, she was sure, and the sooner it was all forgotten, like a bad dream, the better for everybody.
But Annie did not come home until it was so late that Winny began to fear she would not come at all, and that something must have happened to her or her father. She was determined to see her, however, and so she had the door set wide open that she might not be able to pass the landing without being seen.
THE GIRL LOOKED ALMOST SAVAGE IN HER WILDNESS.
At last weary, dragging footsteps were heard ascending the stairs, and then Winny called out: "Come in and see me, Annie, I have been looking out for you all day."
"Yes, to be sure, you must go and see Winny," said Brown in a coaxing tone. And then the footsteps paused, and a wild white face peeped into the room to see if there was anybody else to be seen.