This thought undoubtedly quickened whatever natural instincts might be left in Hannah Grieve; and the child had her doctor, and the doctor's orders were more or less followed.
But when she came downstairs again--a lanky, ghostly creature, much grown, her fierce black eyes more noticeable than ever in her pinched face--Hannah's appetite for 'snipin'-- to use the expressive Derbyshire word--returned upon her.

The child was almost bullied into her bed again--or would have been if David had not found ways of preventing it.

He realised for the first time that, as the young and active male of the household, he was extremely necessary to Hannah's convenience, and now whenever Hannah ill-treated Louie her convenience suffered.

David disappeared.

Her errands were undone, the wood uncut, and coals and water had to be carried as they best could.