About eight o'clock
The village doctor laboured long , but in vain was all his skill . At last a specialist from the great city beyond the hills was called , who ordered the child to be removed to the Royal Infirmary , where care , skill , and nourishment would all be within easy reach . So it came to pass one summer morning , as the sun lighted up the wide moors , and the hum of the factories in the valley began to be carried upwards towards the heights , a little crowd of folks gathered round the door of Abraham Lord 's cottage to take a farewell of ` th ' little lass . ' About eight o'clock the doctor drove up , and in a few moments Milly was carried in his and her father 's strong arms and gently laid in the cushioned carriage , and then slowly driven away from the home which now for the first time in her life she was leaving . The eyes of the onlookers were as moist as the dewy herbage on which they stood , and many a voice trembled in the farewell given in response to Milly 's ` Good-bye . ' Throughout the whole of that dark day Milly 's mother never left the cottage ; and when her husband , weary and dispirited , returned at nightfall , she could scarcely nerve herself to question him lest some word of his should add another stab to her already sorely wounded heart . When ten o'clock struck , and Abraham Lord laid his hand on the key to shoot the lock for the night , he burst into tears , and turning to his wife , said : ` Never , my lass , wi ' Milly on th ' wrong side ' ; and for months the parents slept with an unbarred door .