“Where, miss?”
“At the baronet's place—Mortgrange.”
“Lord, miss! Then they've acknowledged him!”
“I don't know what you mean by that. He's there mending their books.”
“Then I oughtn't to have spoken. But it don't matter—to you, Barbara! No; I knew nothing about him being there, or anywhere else, for I'd lost sight of him. It was a mere chance he found me. I didn't know him till he spoke to me. I heard his step, but I didn't look up. When I saw who it was, I tried to make him leave me—indeed I did, but he would take me! He carried me all the way to the cottage where you found me.”
“Why didn't you want him to know you? What have you against him?”
“Not a thing, miss! He would be a brother to me if I would let him. It's a strange story, and I'm not quite sure if I ought to tell it.”
“Are you bound in any way not to tell it?”
“No. She didn't tell me about it.”
“You mean your mother?”