Chapter FourNoella opened her eyes and found that she had been awoken by Nanny drawing back the curtains.
For a moment she could not remember where she was. Then with a start she realised that she had been asleep for a very long time and had missed dinner with the Earl.
She sat up in bed saying as she did so,
“How could you let me sleep for so long?”
“I came to call you before dinner,” Nanny answered, arranging the curtains neatly as she spoke, “and you were tired out and so I refused to wake you up.”
“Oh, Nanny, I am sure that was a mistake!” Noella said. “Perhaps I should have made an effort to go down.”
“Why should you?” Nanny asked. “After a long journey that almost killed us, it was so tiring.”
Nanny spoke with so much feeling that Noella realised that it had all been too much
