She doubted not that the sergeant had expended the whole of his savings, and she thought him foolish in not having kept her with him for some little time longer, or, if he could not do that, he might have placed her with some honest people, who would have kept her for the sum he had paid until she was old enough to take a place as a nurse girl.
And yet, while she argued thus, Mrs.Walsham felt that the old showman had not acted without weighing the whole matter.

There must be something in it which she did not understand.

In fact, he had said so when he placed the child with her.
As the time approached, she became more worried at the thought of Aggie leaving her.

The little one had wound herself very closely round her heart.

The expense of keeping her was small indeed, the cost of her food next to nothing; while the extra girl, whom Mrs.Walsham had taken on when she first came, had been retained but a very short time, James's constant companionship with her rendering the keeping of a nurse altogether unnecessary.
At last she made up her mind that she would offer to keep her on without pay.