nd did it up for us quite tidy, and there
we lived, though it was sometimes harder than any one knew; for all we
had was what granny made by odd days' work here and there, and by
selling her dried herbs and drinks she made of them. But as I got bigger
the quality at the big house were very kind to me--it was seldom granny
needed to buy clothes for me, and the housekeeper taught me nice ways
about a house, so that when the time came I was ready for a good
service. That's neither here nor there, though, that came afterwards;
the time I got my lucky penny I was still a slip of a child, nine or ten
at most.

''Twas haymaking--a beautiful dry haymaking, hot and sunny, I remember
well. Granny was out with the best of them, hard at work early and late.
I went to school in the village, but there wasn't much schooling that
week or two. 'Twasn't so strict as now--an hour or two in the morning
and then we'd be told we might all run home, to help while the splendid
weather lasted. Grandmother worked for the Squire; I was always sure to
find her about the fields and have my bite of dinner with her, and then
the little ladies and gentlemen would have me play with them at what
_they_ called "haymaking," though it was a funny kind enough--more
tossing and tumbling and laughing and shouting than any help to the
haymakers. But we did enjoy it.

'Well there came an afternoon that my granny was off working in a field
a good bit farther away than usual. She told me in the morning not to go
after her, for she didn't care for me to walk so far in the hot sun--she
was very careful of me, poor dear--and she'd asked the housekeeper if I
might have a bit of dinner at the big house, seeing that the young
ladies and gentlemen wanted me to make hay with them in what they called
their own field, a paddock just outside the kitchen garden. And there I
found them, and a rare good play we had that afternoon, finishing up
with a nice treat of cakes and milk when we were too tired and hot to
play any more.'

'Were the cakes like those you make for us?' asked Rosamond.

Nance nodded, well pleased.

'You've guessed it, missie,' she said. 'They're the very same. 'Twas
there I learnt to make them. And then I was starting to go home when I
heard a cry from Miss Hetty, the youngest and sweetest, to my thinking,
of all the young ladies. "My ring, oh my ring, with the blue stone," she
called out. "My birthday ring! I've lost it. I pulled it off and was
tryin