A Lucky Magpie 171 



once, and left me feeling as if I had had a 

 dream. But then it came again, twice over, and 

 louder, not twenty yards away from me. 



44 The dream was gone now, and I edged 

 myself down as near as I could to the hedge, 

 keeping my eye on the master. Luckily for me 

 at this moment one young rascal contrived to 

 dig his spade into another's heel, and got a 

 blow in the face for his pains ; and the master 

 was down on the boy that hit him, and marched 

 him off to the house for punishment. I seized 

 the chance, and was at the hedge in a moment, 

 carrying an armful of weeds to throw away in 

 the ditch, so as not to attract the notice of the 

 others. Sure enough there was my own dear 

 old Nelly's face peering up through a tiny 

 opening which some rabbit had made in coming 

 to feed on our cabbages. 



" 4 Johnny,' she whispered, 'give me a kiss.' 



14 I scrambled into the hedge and gave her 

 half-a-dozen ; but I couldn't speak ; I was far 

 away in a dream again. Nelly, however, was 

 wide awake and knew the value of her time. 



14 ' I'm staying with Uncle Jonas, in the white 



