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Rh he kept saying to himself. "A poor little lass, and nobody to say a kind word to her." And though this consideration for a pretty girl was such an unusual, such an absolutely new thing to Ben, he had not a suspicion of what had really happened to him.

In the morning he watched anxiously for Nelly, and was pleased to see her among the first arrivals. He took her himself to her loom. It made him happy to find the bonny childish form mounting the steps at his side. He felt a constant temptation to cast his eyes down at the eyes lifted to him. And such little bits of hands as Nelly had! Ben touched them almost pitifully. "Only to think of them having to work for a living! Poor little lass! No friends to care for her! Poor lass! poor lass!"

All day such reflections ran through his mind, and towards afternoon he went to Sarah and told her about Nelly. "She's nobbut an orphan child among strangers, Sarah, and I look to thee to see after her a bit," he said. "There's so many ways, thou knows, for a little one to be led out of t' right road."

He was pleased to see that Sarah had found the little one before leaving the mill, for he saw