"And did he do so?" inquired Rachel, looking with interest into her own
eyes in the glass. "Did he leave him to your master?"
"He did that!" replied her maid, a simple Yorkshire wench, whom Rachel
herself had chosen in preference to the smart town type. "Catch any on
'em not doin what master tells them!"
"Then did John see what happened?"
"No, m'm--because master sent him to see if the chap'd come in at t'
lodge gates, or where, and when he got back he was gone, blanket an'
all, an' master with him."
"Blanket and all!" repeated Rachel. "Do you mean to say he had the
impudence to bring a blanket with him?"
"And slept in it!" cried her excited little maid. "John says he found
him tucked up in a corner of the lawn, out of the wind, behind some o'
them shrubs, sound asleep, and lapped round and round in his blue
banket from head to heel."
Rachel saw her own face change in the glass; but she only asked one more
question, and that with a smile.
"Did John say it was a blue blanket, Harris, or did your own imagination
supply the color?"
"He said it, m'm; faded blue."
"And pray when did you see John to hear all this?" demanded Rachel,
suddenly remembering her responsibility as mistress of this young
daughter of the soil.
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