"But surely Miss Sophy can please herself!"
"Mrs. Drake said I wur to look after Miss Sophy," muttered Kezia.
"And so you shall. We are going away, as Miss Sophy really ought to live in a place where she can see a few people. We have taken a house in Drivelford, which is where she used to live, and we shall go there some time this month. Kezia, I want you not to mention this to anyone, not even to Bessie," said Nellie impressively.
"Well, I never!" gasped Kezia. "I fancied we should never be going away from here, and I don't think it's right. I'm sure Mrs. Drake wouldn't like it. What sort of a place is this Drivelford?"
"Oh, it's quite a bright little town, and a lot of old people go there to live because the death rate is only seven and a half in a thousand."
"What do that mean?" asked Kezia.
"Statistics are beyond me, but I suppose if means that out of a thousand people only seven and a half die."
"What happens to the old folk what don't die? How long do the person what half dies bide like that? Do he get better or worse? How be us to know whether me, and you, and Miss Sophy, won't be among the seven? I can't sense the meaning of it."
"It does seem rather hard to explain, especially as Drivelford has the biggest cemetery I ever saw in my life. You will like the place, Kezia. There are plenty of houses and rows of shops—one very big one, called Field, Stanley, and Robinson, where you can buy anything."
"I'd like to be among a few shops," said Kezia more cheerfully. "Ain't Stanley the name of that dreadful woman what came to Black Anchor?"