"I'll tell you the particulars by and by," said the nurse, looking
significantly at the child's expressive face.
At the same time she began to take off her bonnet.
"You ain't going to stop, are you?" whispered Ida.
"Ain't going to stop!" repeated the man called Dick. "Why shouldn't
she? Ain't she at home?"
"At home!" echoed Ida, apprehensively, opening wide her eyes in
astonishment.
"Yes, ask her."
Ida looked, inquiringly, at Mrs. Hardwick.
"You might as well take off your things," said the latter, grimly.
"We ain't going any farther to-day."
"And where's the lady you said you were going to see?" asked the
child, bewildered.
"The one that was interested in you?"
"Yes."
"Well, I'm the one."
"You!"
"Yes."
"I don't want to stay here," said Ida, becoming frightened.
"Well, what are you going to do about it?" asked the woman,
mockingly.
"Will you take me back early to-morrow?"
"No, I don't intend to take you back at all," said the nurse,
coolly.
Ida seemed stupefied with astonishment and terror at first. Then,
actuated by a sudden impulse, she ran to the door, and had got it
open when the nurse sprang forward, and seizing her by the arm,
dragged her rudely back.
"Where are you going in such a hurry?" she demanded, roughly.
"Back to father and mother," said Ida, bursting into tears.
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