“Well, I never!” she said. “I didn’t expect it till to-morrow morning.”
“What is it? What are ye whisperin’ about?” said Peggy.
“Why, missy, dear, you’re in the very luck of time; there’s the little hen Charity has brought out her brood of chicks. We didn’t expect them to be hatched until to-morrow morning.”
“Oh glory! oh let’s see!” said Peggy. She began to hop on one leg, to pull Mrs. Johns by the hand to get her to take her to the spot where Charity sat guarding her brood. The bright eyes of the little white hen looked up with conscious pride and at the same time a touching mixture of apprehension at those who were gazing down at her. Peggy smoothed her delicate little top-knot, and then, thrusting in her hand, took out a tiny chick, a ball of yellow fluff. She kissed it very tenderly and then put it back again under its mother.
“Oh, an’ don’t me heart go out to ye, Charity?” she said, “an’ ain’t ye a darlin’? Look ye here, Mammy Mary, mayn’t I stay an’ watch wid Charity for a bit, an’ give her some hard-boiled egg to feed her little chicks wid? Bedad, now, ye’ll let me, won’t ye, Mary?”
“I daren’t, darling, I wish I could.”
Peggy frowned. “Oh dear, wurra!” she said, “it’s a sad worruld!”
After a time, however, she was induced to go back, Johns and his wife being, as a matter of fact, most anxious to get rid of her; if she did not go back almost immediately they would be discovered, and then they did not know what mischief might befall them. Accordingly, Johns put the ladder up to the house and Peggy said good-bye to Charity, although there was a very knowing look in her eyes, and then returned to her own room.
Now these little escapades on the part of Peggy were never breathed even to Miss Mary Polly Molly; and Peggy quieted that conscience of hers—that fairy Princess Mona, who would speak and would not be quiet—at least she tried to quiet her by disregarding her.
The days flew past, the holidays were over. Peggy, compared to what she was when first she arrived at Preston Manor, was outwardly vastly improved, but it is sad to relate that her nature was very much the same as it was before. She did, however, cry very heartily when she bade Mary good-bye, but no one else seemed to evoke any feelings in her breast.