"
"Do you know anything of her parentage?" inquired Mrs. Crump,
eagerly.
"I was her nurse," said the other, quietly.
Mrs. Crump examined, anxiously, the hard features of the woman. It
was a relief at least to know, though she could hardly have
believed, that there was no tie of blood between her and Ida.
"Who were her parents?"
"I am not permitted to tell," was the reply.
Mrs. Crump looked disappointed.
"Surely," she said, with a sudden sinking of heart, "you have not
come to take her away?"
"This letter will explain my object in visiting you," said the
woman, drawing a sealed envelope from a bag which she carried on her
arm.
The cooper's wife nervously broke open the letter, and read as
follows:--
"MRS. CRUMP;
"Eight years ago last New Year's night, a child was left on your
door-steps, with a note containing a request that you would care for
it kindly as your own. Money was sent, at the same time, to defray
the expenses of such care. The writer of this note is the mother of
the child Ida. There is no need to say, here, why I sent the child
away from me. You will easily understand that only the most
imperative circumstances would have led me to such a step. Those
circumstances still prevent me from reclaiming the child, and I am
content, still, to leave Ida in your charge. Yet, there is one thing
of which I am (sic) desirious.
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