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Now it happened that this suggestion of Miss Unity's came at a wonderfully convenient moment; for it had been arranged already that Ethelwyn's governess should meet her at the Nearminster station in three days' time, and take her back to London.
So the thing was settled at once. Kettles, out of Anchor and Hope Alley, had become Keturah, Miss Unity's maid in the Close. "She looks very nice now she's Keturah," said Nancy, as the little girls drove away, "but she isn't funny any more. There was something I always liked about Kettles." And Kettles she always remained to the children at Easney, though the name was never heard at Nearminster.
"It," was Pennie's new winter bonnet, and certainly it was not very becoming; it was made of black plush with a very deep brim, out of which her little pointed face peered mournfully, and seemed almost swallowed up. There was one exactly like it for Nancy, and the bonnets had just come from Miss Griggs, the milliner at Nearminster, where they had been ordered a week ago.
And the time came at last; smiling, nodding, and tossing her yellow hair, Ethelwyn got into the train which was to take her away from Nearminster, and Pennie stood at Miss Unity's side on the platform, gazing seriously after her from the depths of the plush bonnet.
"I suppose we shall have tea with Nurse," said Pennie; "but," she added, "I hope Dickie isn't to go this time. She does spoil everything so." "Only you and me," said Nancy, rolling the kitten tightly up in a newspaper so that only its head appeared. "Doesn't it look like a mummy cat? There's one just like it at Nearminster. It would do for the boys' museum."
"She's the sort of little girl who lives in a caravan and sells brushes and brooms," continued Pennie as the carriage stopped at Miss Unity's door. Mrs Hawthorne was accustomed sometimes to read to herself during her frequent drives between Easney and Nearminster, and to-day, when the children saw that she had her book with her, they went on talking very low so as not to disturb her.
But soon Nancy's observant glance, roving round the room, fell on the empty space beside the clock. "Why!" she said in a loud voice of surprise, "where's the mandarin?" For she was very fond of the funny little image, and always expected to see him wag his head when she went to Nearminster. Everyone heard the question, and for a minute no one answered.
The little girls were feeling even more dignified and grown-up than usual, for it was a great event to drive over to Nearminster quite alone; therefore it was all the more trying to be greeted by a derisive song: "Hurray, hurray, hurray! Ethelwyn is gone away!" screamed the shrill voices, even Dickie doing her best to swell the chorus.
Nancy knew, when she saw that, that Pennie's support in the matter of shoes and stockings for Kettles was secure. The even course of Miss Unity's life in her dark old house at Nearminster had been somewhat ruffled lately. A troublesome question, which she could neither dismiss nor answer, presented itself so continually before her that her peace of mind was quite destroyed. It was always there.
"How funny it seems," said Pennie as the cathedral towers came in sight, "to be going back to Nearminster!" "Would you like to be going to stop there again?" asked Nancy. "Well of course I like being at home best," answered Pennie, "but there were some things I liked at Nearminster. Let me see," counting on her fingers, "there were Miss Unity, and old.
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