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"I won't, mum," said Biddy; and indeed she did not feel anxious for Crazy Sall's further acquaintance, though the failing mentioned by her mistress did not surprise or shock her, she knew too many people in the neighbourhood of Buzley's Court who were troubled in the same way.

Then, for one minute, she felt she must "give way," but not having been used to such a luxury in Buzley's Court, where there was never a moment to spare, she thought better of it, winked back the tears, and sat very upright.

It was, indeed, a "lonesome" place, and there was something "terr'ble" in its solitude compared to the comfortable closeness and crowding chimneys of Buzley's Court; but, fortunately for Biddy, her busy life at Truslow Manor did not leave much leisure for dwelling upon this.

And she had a great deal to think of, for to-morrow she was going into the world! She would say good-bye to Buzley's Court and to all the things and people in it she had known and lived with, and turn her face to meet new things and new people. Nothing would be familiar to her in that strange world, not even tea-cups with blue rims like these she was washing up for the last time.

Not much, but everything was in startling contrast to Buzley's Court. A field, a row of tall elms growing at the end of it, which cut off any further view; a flock of geese, a flock of turkeys, a little black donkey, a foal, and a rough pony that was all.

A baby had always been the chief circumstance in her life from the time when she was too small to do anything but keep watch by its cradle, to that when she learnt her lessons for school with a baby in her arms. In her play-hours, when the children of Buzley's Court gathered to enjoy themselves after their own manner in the summer evenings, Biddy looked on from the door-step with the baby.

At any rate it must be something impossible to get at Number 6 Buzley's Court, Whitechapel, where she had lived all the thirteen years of her life. Perhaps she might find it pleasant to be "lonesome," she thought, and yet her mother always added the word "terr'ble" to it, as if it were a thing generally to be disliked.

Mrs Roy naturally felt it impossible that there should be another baby the least like Dulcie; but she was wise enough to conceal this, and to allow Biddy's confidences about Buzley's Court and the Lane family to flow on unchecked.