"It isn't my mystery," said the nurse. "If you have any objection to
make against it, you must make it to Ida's mother."

The two were not likely to get along very amicably. Neither was
gifted with the best of tempers, and perhaps it was as well that
there should have been an interruption as there was.






CHAPTER IX.

A JOURNEY.





"OH, mother," exclaimed Ida, bounding into the room, fresh from
school.

She stopped short, in some confusion, on seeing a stranger.

"Is this my own dear child, over whose infancy I watched so
tenderly?" exclaimed the nurse, rising, her harsh features wreathed
into a smile.

"It is Ida," said Mrs. Crump.