For a fortnight, Diamond went on driving his cab and helping his family. Some people began to know him and to look for him to drive them where they wanted to go. One old gentleman who lived near the stables hired him to carry him into the city every morning at a certain hour. And Diamond was as regular as clock work. After that fortnight, his father was able to go out again. Then Diamond began to think about little Nanny and went off to inquire about her.

The first day his father took up his work again, Diamond went with him as usual. In the afternoon, however, his father went home and left Diamond to drive the cab for the rest of the day. It was hard for old Diamond to do all the work but they could not afford to have another horse. They saved him as much as they could and fed him well and he did bravely.

The next morning, his father was so much stronger that Diamond thought he might go and ask Mr. Raymond to take him to see Nanny. Mr. Raymond was quite willing to go and so they walked over to the hospital which was close at hand.

When Diamond followed Mr. Raymond into the room where those children lay who had got over the worst of their illness, and were growing better, he saw a number of little iron beds. Each one of them stood with its head to the wall and in each one was a child whose face showed just how far it had left the pain behind and was getting well. Diamond looked all around but he could see no Nanny. He turned to Mr. Raymond with a question in his eyes.

“Well?” said Mr. Raymond.

“Nanny’s not here,” said Diamond.

“Oh, yes, she is.”

“I don’t see her!”

“I do, though. There she is.”

He pointed to a bed right in front of where Diamond was standing.

“That’s not Nanny!” cried Diamond.

“Yes, it is Nanny. I have seen her a great many times since you have, and that is she.”

So Diamond looked again and looked hard. “If that is Nanny,” said Diamond to himself, “then she must have been at the back of the north wind. That is why she looks so different.” He said nothing aloud, only stared. And as he stared, something of the face of the old Nanny began to come out in the face of the new Nanny. The old Nanny had been somewhat rough in her speech, her face rather hard, and she had not kept herself clean — how could she! Now, in her fresh white bed, she looked sweet and gentle and refined.

“Surely North Wind has had something to do with it,” thought Diamond. In her weeks of sickness, had North Wind carried Nanny to the country at her back — as she once had carried him — and changed her from a rough girl to a gentle maiden? As he gazed, the best of the old face, the good and true part of the old Nanny, dawned upon him like the moon coming out of a cloud. He saw that it was Nanny, indeed — but very worn and grown almost beautiful.

He went up to her and she smiled. He had heard her laugh, but he had never seen her smile before. “Nanny, do you know me?” asked Diamond. She only smiled again. She was not likely to forget him. To be sure, she did not know that it was he who had got her there. But he was the only boy except cripple Jim who had ever been kind to her.

Mr. Raymond walked about talking to the other children, while Diamond visited with Nanny. Then after a time, he stood in the middle of the room and told them a nice fairy story. He often did that and the children watched for his visits. After he finished the story, he had to go. Diamond took leave of Nanny and promised to go and see her again soon and went away with Mr. Raymond.

Now Mr. Raymond had been turning over in his mind what he could do for Diamond and for Nanny. He knew Diamond’s father somewhat. But he wanted to find out better what sort of a man he was and whether he was worth doing anything for. He decided to see if he would do anything for any body else. For that would be the very best way to find out if it were worth while to do anything for him . So as they walked away together, he said to little Diamond, “Nanny must leave the hospital soon, Diamond. They cannot keep her as long as they would like. They cannot keep her till she is quite strong. There are always so many sick children they want to take in and make better. The question is what will she do when they send her out again?”

“That is just what I can’t tell,” said Diamond, “though I’ve been thinking it over and over. Her crossing was taken long ago. I couldn’t bear to see Nanny fighting for it, especially with the poor lame boy who has taken it. Besides she has no better right to it than he has. Nobody gave it to her. She just took it and now he has taken it.”

“She would get sick again, anyway,” said Mr. Raymond, “if she went to sweeping again right away in the wet. If somebody could only teach her something to do it would be better. Perhaps if she could be taught to be nice and clean and to speak only gentle words ——”

“Mother could teach her that!” interrupted Diamond.

“And to dress babies and feed them and take care of them,” Mr. Raymond went on, “she might get a place as nurse maid somewhere. People would give her money for that.”

“Why, I’ll ask mother!” cried Diamond. &ldq............