Inquiries were therefore made in the regiment, and Sergeant Wolf's wife, who had a great love for children although childless herself, volunteered to fill the post for a time.

A few months afterward Sergeant Wolf was killed in a fight with a marauding hill tribe.

His widow, instead of returning home and living on the little pension to which she was entitled at his death, remained in the service of the Sankeys, who soon came to regard her as invaluable.
She was somewhat rough in her ways and sharp with her tongue; but even Mrs.Sankey, who was often ruffled by her brusque independence, was conscious of her value, and knew that she should never obtain another servant who would take the trouble of the children so entirely off her hands.

She retained, indeed, her privilege of grumbling, and sometimes complained to her husband that Abijah's ways were really unbearable.
Still she never pressed the point, and Abijah appeared established as a permanent fixture in the Sankeys' household.

She it was who, when, after leaving the service, Captain Sankey was looking round for a cheap and quiet residence, had recommended Marsden.
"There is a grand air from the hills," she said, "which will be just the thing for the children.