Anne felt a lump in her throat and she gave Mrs. Blacke a watery smile. It was at once hard to believe and heart-warming that someone wanted to be her mother, and wanted to look after her. She so often wished she still had a mother.

"Oh, but I do, Mrs. Blacke! I mean, not like me real mum. Nobody could ever... I miss her," - that lump brew bigger - "still. But ye've been like a mother to me and I wish I could stay 'ere as yer daughter."