“I would just as lieves go in,” said Ida, “if Peg would give me good money to pay for it.”
“That don't make any difference,” said the admirable moralist; “jest do as she tells you, and you'll do right. She'll take the risk.”
“I can't!” said the child.
“You hear her?” said Peg.
“Very improper conduct!” said Dick, shaking his head. “Put her in the closet.”
So Ida was incarcerated once more in the dark closet. Yet, in the midst of her desolation, there was a feeling of pleasure in thinking that she was suffering for doing right.
When Ida failed to return on the expected day, the Crumps, though disappointed, did not think it strange.
“If I were her mother,” said Mrs. Crump, “and had been parted from her so long, I should want to keep her as long as I could. Dear heart! how pretty she is, and how proud her mother must be of her!”
“It's all a delusion,” said Aunt Rachel, shaking her head. “It's all a delusion. I don't believe she's got a mother at all. That Mrs. Hardwick is an imposter. I knew it, and told you so at the time, but you wouldn't believe me. I never expect to set eyes on Ida again in this world.”
“I do,” said Jack, confidently.