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Again the cry, which was more like 'mah-nee' now than 'mamma, met his ear, and, stooping lower, he saw a curly head nestle close to the bosom of the woman, while a little fat white hand was clasping the neck as if for warmth and protection.
'Oh, Mah-nee, she sobbed, laying her face upon the rough, coarse garments, 'I am not disloyal to you in trying to believe that you were not my mother, and could you come back to me, Mah-nee, whoever you are, I'd be to you so loving and true. Tell me, Mah-nee, who I am; give me some sign that what comes to me so often of that far-off land is true.
It was her mother lying there dead, and they made way for her as, catching sight of the white face, she uttered a cry of joy, and running up to the body, patted the cold cheeks, while she kept calling 'Mah-nee, Mah-nee, and saying words unintelligible to all, but full of pathos and love, and child-like coaxing for the inanimate form to rouse itself, and speak to her again.
'Mah-nee! she said again, placing one hand on the cold, dead face, and stretching the other toward Harold, who put out his arms to take her. But something resisted all his efforts, and a closer inspection showed him a long, old-fashioned carpet-bag, which enveloped her body from her neck to her feet, and into which she had evidently been put to protect her from the cold.
'I suppose she means her mother by Mah-nee, said Mr. St. Claire; and when he asked her if it were not so, she answered 'yah, and ''ess, as she did to everything, adopting finally the latter word altogether because she saw it pleased Harold. No matter what was the question put to her, her reply was ''ess, which she repeated quickly, with a prolonged sound on the 's. When at last Mr. St.
'When the money stopped, the letter went on, 'we grew so poor, Jerrie and I and Nannine that is the French woman who lives with me and whom Jerrie calls Mah-nee. She will bring my child to you when I am dead; and oh, be kind to her, for a truer, more faithful woman never lived.
Then forgetting both burglar and thief, he started forward quickly, and was soon at the door, from which he dug away the snow with a desperate energy, as if working for his life. For the sound was the cry of a little child, frightened and pleading. 'Mah-nee! mah-nee! it seemed to say; and Harold, thinking it was mamma, answered, cheerily: 'I am coming as fast I can.
Crawford stared at him a moment in a bewildered kind of way, and then when the child, seeing him cry, began also to cry for "Mah-nee," and struggle in the bag, she forgot her lame foot, on which she had not stepped for a week, and going to the little girl, released her from the bag, and taking her upon her lap, began to untie the soft woollen cloak and to chafe the cold fingers, while she questioned her grandson.
''Ess, was Jerry's reply, for she still adhered to her first pronunciation of the word. 'And the other was the nurse? ''Ess, Jerry said again; 'Mah-nee. This was puzzling, for he had always supposed that by 'mah-nee' the child meant 'mam-ma; but he went on: 'Try to understand me, Jerry; try to think away back before you came in the ship.
At this sight all Harold's fear vanished, and, bending down so that his lips almost touched the bright, wavy hair, he said: 'Poor little girl! he felt instinctively that it was a girl 'poor little girl! come with me away from this dreadful place! and he tried to lift up her head, but she drew it away from him, and repeated the piteous cry of 'Mah-nee, mah-nee!
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