big doll in her own half-worn baby-clothes, and caressed 
it with all a mother's , at eleven years old ? To 
have a baby  a baby of her very own, as it were (for 
nurse had given warning at once), it was perfect content. 
Every minute that she could steal from Rosie's father she 
gave to the child: she would have liked to be in the nurs- 
ery all day long. When wearied out with Mr. Rivers's 
, saddened by his gloomy face, she would fly 
for refuge to that sunshiny room  her own room  which 
she had made as cozy and pretty as she could, and find 
it a heaven of  ; for the bright little face, the happy 



54 HANNAH. 

little voice, were something nearer heaven than any  
her life had as yet ever known. 

It might not have been the same with all children ; bat 
the poor, motherless Rosie was a very original child. 
Small, quiet, gentle, pale, there was yet in the baby month 
a firm little will of its own ; and in the serious eyes a 
strange out-looking, as if seeing something grown-up peo- 
ple could not see  seeking, perhaps, the mother she was 
never to know. Very soon Hannah learned to