"Eh, my bairn, you have a winsome way, but don't you come canoodling me now, when my heart is like to break about my own dear children; and the young ladies at the Towers, too, in such a muck of trouble."
"Dear nursey," exclaimed Annie; "dear, loving, faithful, true-hearted nursey."
She stroked the old woman's brow and rubbed her soft cheek against hers.
"Out with it now, my pet," said Nurse Martin. "What is it you want me to do? If it's the pawn-shop again—once for all, no, I won't."
"It isn't the pawn-shop," said Annie; "it's just to ask you a simple question. I asked Hester, but she couldn't tell me. Is Sir John Thornton a rich man?"
"Is he rich?" echoed nurse; "do you think she'd be after him if he wasn't?"
"I don't know. Is he rich, nursey?"
"Yes, he's rich," replied nurse.
"Very, very rich? Dear Nurse Martin, please say yes."
"He's rich," replied nurse in an emphatic voice. "He has got his gold and his lands, and not a debt anywhere, and small expenses compared to his means. Yes, he's rich. More shame to him for taking the money from Miss Hester and Miss Nan to provide a new wife and an outlandish stepdaughter."