"nellie! i say, where are you, nellie? it's all right! bounce is safe! he's just been brought home."
mr. and mrs. burford and their little daughter were at the breakfast-table when tom burst in on them with his news. nellie cried: "oh, how glad i am!" and was beginning to ask questions when her father interposed by telling tom to sit down and have his breakfast.
"i'm sorry i'm late," the little boy said apologetically, as he took his accustomed place. "i've been to halcyon villa, and stayed talking to peter perry and his aunt. i wanted so much to know if bounce had been found."
"when was he found?" asked nellie.
"last night. but moses lee—that's the gipsy who found him—kept him tied up at hatwell green till this morning, when the caravan had to pass halcyon villa on their way through the town—the gipsies are moving to-day. i was standing at the front door when i saw the lees' caravan stop at the gate. the blinds of the house were all down then, but a minute later a servant pulled up those in the dining-room, and after that came and opened the front door, and peter perry was close behind her. the instant he showed himself bounce uttered a yell, broke away from moses lee, and simply went off his head—oh, it was a sight! first bounce jumped around peter like a mad thing, barking with joy, then, when he had quieted down, peter took him up in his arms and kissed and hugged him, and—yes, really almost cried over him!"
"poor boy!" exclaimed mrs. burford, whilst tears of sympathy shone in nellie's blue eyes. "where was the dog found?" she inquired.
"in a rabbit burrow, mother," tom replied.
he flushed scarlet as he spoke, and hung his head. for a minute he hesitated, then, in a few halting sentences, he explained how he had seen and left bounce in the woods, and told of his interview with the gipsy on the preceding day.
"i think it would have been only kind if you had taken the dog back to his master," mrs. burford remarked, with a note of reproof in her voice.
"yes, mother," tom answered; "i wished afterwards i had. you can't think what a weight off my mind it is to know he's all right."
"how came the dog to be found?" asked mrs. burford; "you have not told us that."
"no, but i will," tom said eagerly. "really it's quite wonderful he's living! moses lee put in all the afternoon yesterday looking for him, and couldn't find him; but, late in the evening, after his wife and zingra had returned, he went into the woods again. this time he came upon the hole in the old hedge i'd told him of, where bounce had been digging, and he got down on his knees and looked in. he saw the hole led into a regular rabbit run, and that the hedge was like a honeycomb with rabbit holes. then he got up and went to the other side of the hedge, and there he saw another hole where bounce had evidently been digging, too, and above the hole earth had given way— fallen and partly blocked the entrance. well, what did he do as soon as he saw that, but go and fetch a spade, and begin to dig away at the hedge, and—"
"and he found bounce there!" broke in nellie excitedly.
"yes," said tom, "right in the middle of the rabbit run, almost smothered, poor little beast he'd dug himself in, and of course there wasn't room for him to turn round, so he tried to go on, and the earth had fallen on him and—well, he couldn't have lived much longer if moses lee hadn't found him when he did!"
"has miss perry given moses lee the reward?" questioned nellie.
"oh, yes!" answered tom. "she said she had never paid a sovereign with greater pleasure in her life. and, oh, mother, what do you think? she's going to call here by and by to ask you to let me go to halcyon villa to tea; she says she would like her nephew and me to become better acquainted with each other. you will say 'yes,' won't you, mother?"
mrs. burford exchanged a glance with her husband, and, looking very pleased, answered: "certainly, my dear."
"did miss perry say anything about me, tom?" nellie inquired.
"oh, yes!" tom replied promptly, adding, as he met the wistful glance of his little sister's eyes: "i'm sorry, nellie, but she didn't say anything about asking you to tea."
it was between eleven and twelve o'clock that morning when miss perry's motor-car, with only miss perry and the chauffeur in it, drew up before the burfords' house in ladysmith terrace. tom had gone out to do an errand for his mother; but nellie was at home, lying back in her favourite hammock chair in the shady yard, her pale little face swollen with weeping; for, since breakfast, she had been told of the change in store for her, that she was to spend three months at broadstairs, away from her own people, and she could not reconcile herself to the idea at all. her mother was with her when jane came into the yard and said that miss perry was in the drawing-room.
"will you come with me and see her, nellie?" mrs. burford inquired.
"no, thank you," was the answer; "she hasn't come to ask me to tea!"
so mrs. burford went into the house alone. in a very short while she returned, her face lit up with a pleased smile. "nellie, dear," she began, "miss perry wants to know if you would like a drive with her this morning—"
"oh! oh!" interrupted nellie, her voice shrill with surprise and excitement, "how simply lovely of her! i'll go and get ready at once!"
the little girl never forgot the delights of that first motor drive she took with miss perry. she sat very still with an expression of intense contentment on her face. the sun did not seem too hot now, and a breeze fanned her cheeks—there had been none in the yard at home. when, at length, after more than an hour's drive, she was set down before her own door in ladysmith terrace, how feeble her thanks sounded in return for the pleasure she had been given!
"i will take you with me another day," miss perry told her, smilingly, "and perhaps we may be able to persuade your mother to come, too."
"oh, yes!" cried nellie; "thank you!—oh, thank you!"
she entered the house light-heartedly. she was not to go to broadstairs till next month, she reflected, and, perhaps, before then, something might happen to prevent her going at all.
but nothing happened to prevent it. the remaining days of august passed all too quickly, miss perry's car was frequently seen now before the burfords' house, and tom was spending a great deal of his time with peter perry, whilst tim and bounce had evidently decided that the only course open to two reasonable dogs, whose masters had become friends, was to follow their example and be friends, too.
"it's the last day of august," nellie remarked mournfully at breakfast one morning; "another week, and then—" she stopped with a choking lump in her throat.
"you'll like it at broadstairs, i shouldn't wonder," tom said hastily. "i'll promise to write to you," he went on, "and tell you everything you'll care to know."
this was very good of tom, for he hated letter-writing. nellie, aware of that fact, looked at him gratefully, and answered: "yes, do! and never mind the spelling! that won't matter a bit!"
a fine, sunny morning, a week later, found the whole burford family, tim included, at the railway station. mrs. burford was to take nellie to broadstairs, remain there the night, and return on the morrow.
"three months will soon pass," tom whispered to his little sister, meaning to be consolatory.
"it's ages and ages!" she answered, looking very doleful indeed.
then the train by which she and her mother were to travel ran into the station. mr. burford found corner seats in a third-class compartment for them, and the time had come for good-byes to be exchanged. nellie had determined beforehand that she would be brave and not cry, and she succeeded in saying "good-bye!" to both her father and brother and kissing them without breaking down; but when, after her father had settled her and her mother comfortably for the journey, tom came to the carriage window, saying, "you haven't said good-bye to tim, nellie!" and lifted up the little dog for her to caress, her courage suddenly gave way, and her tears began to flow. "take care of him, tom," she whispered with a sob, as she leaned out of the carriage window and kissed tim, too; "and, oh, i do hope he won't forget me! i don't know what i shall feel if he doesn't remember me when i come back!" then the guard blew his whistle, and nellie hastily drew in her head. the train moved slowly out of the station, and a minute later was gone.
"come, tom!" said mr. burford, touching his son on the arm.
with the dog still in his arms, tom followed his father out of the station. in the street he set tim down. "i was afraid if i let him go before he might run after the train," he explained. "oh, father, won't it be strange without nellie?" he sighed.
"very strange," mr. burford agreed. "poor little maid, her greatest trial will be when she comes to say 'good-bye' to her mother to-morrow; she is so unaccustomed to strangers. are you going to come with me as far as the bank?"
"oh, yes, father!"
"and what will you do afterwards?"
"i thought perhaps i'd walk as far as halcyon villa, and ask miss perry to allow peter to go somewhere with me this afternoon—fishing perhaps."
"i hope you'll not wear out your welcome at halcyon villa, tom!"
"miss perry said she was always pleased to see me," tom said, eagerly. "she is glad peter has me for his friend—he never had a real friend before he knew me."
"how was that?"
"well, you see, he doesn't go to school when he's at home—he has a tutor who's especially clever at teaching blind people; so he doesn't mix with other boys. oh, father, what a noise!"
a big traction engine, drawing several vans, was puffing along the street in the direction of the market square, a large piece of ground in the centre of the town, where, during three days in the middle of september, a fair was always held.
"it's a menagerie," said mr. burford, catching sight of the picture of a lion on one of the vans from which the covering had slipped. "i saw it was advertised to be here next week for the fair. look, there come an elephant and a couple of camels! well, here we are at the bank. good-bye, my boy, for the present."
after parting from his father, tom followed in the rear of the elephant and the camels to the market square, where the animals were taken into a tent which had been prepared for them, and watched with the greatest interest whilst the vans belonging to the menagerie were arranged in a circle, a space being left for the entrance of the public to the exhibition. there being nothing more to be seen at present, he was thinking of going on to halcyon villa when his attention was attracted by an angry voice proceeding from a shabby caravan which had been pushed as far back as possible into a corner of the square, and curiosity prompted him to stop and listen to it.
"you little white-faced coward, you!" cried the voice, and there followed a string of oaths and what sounded like a blow. after that there was silence; then the door of the caravan opened, and a stout purple-faced woman came out, leading by the hand a little girl with a frightened, tear-stained countenance. the pair walked a few steps side by side, then suddenly the child pulled her hand from the woman's and started forward at a run.
"stop her! stop her!" cried the woman, appealing to tom. "set your dog at her—that'll fetch her back!"
"stop her yourself!" retorted tom shortly, and, bidding tim keep to heel, he turned away. already the little girl was out of the square and had disappeared from sight.
