in the same
state of dirt and confusion as the shop. Three dirty children, whose
ages I was afterwards told were thirteen, eleven, and nine, came to meet
their parents. Their frocks were dirty and ragged, their stockings with
holes in them, their shoes slipped down at the heel, while they wore
strings of coloured beads round their necks, that did not seem as if
they were washed oftener than once a month. They were clamouring round
their parents to know what they had brought them from the country, and
who I was.

Their father gave them a basket with cakes and fruit in it, and told
them to take that, and ask him no questions till he was at leisure to
answer them. The master's sister, who had taken charge of the house
during his absence, was dressed much in the same style as the children,
her stockings being dirty and with holes in them, her gown unripped in
several places at the seams, and on her head a dirty cap, with a fine
lace border and ornamented with pink ribbon. The room and furniture were
in the same untidy condition, and as I looked around me I could not but
fear that my situation in this house would be very uncomfortable.

We were all of us both tired and cold. The sister made tea, of which
Mrs. Smith gave me a good basinful, and a thick slice of
bread-and-butter. They then began talking among themselves, and me and
my little history was the subject of their conversation. They were all
much amused at my being called Lady Anne. Mrs. Smith declared that she
would either call me Anne or Nancy, and Mr. Smith insisted that I
should have my full title.

'I tell you what, husband,' said she, 'you may call her what you please,
but I shall call her Nanny.'

'And I tell you what, wife,' returned he, 'I shall call her Lady Anne,
and so shall the children, or I'll strap them well, and you ought to
call her so. Who knows but that girl may be the means of making our
fortune? If she really is an earl's daughter, her father may come into
our shop some day to look at an umbrella or a pair of shoes, and when he
hears us call her Lady Anne he will, of course, inquire the reason; then
we shall tell him her history, he'll make us a present--a handsome one,
too--not less than a thousand pounds, I should think, or, if it is not a
handsome one, I'll send him in a swinging bill for her keep, so that I
will have it one way or another.'

'Why, you know that we must keep her,' replied his wife; 'she is our
servant, and will soon be