AT THE FARM 



109 



apple, and strolled away sufficiently slowly to hear 

 Miss Betty exclaim, ' Oh, you wicked thief !' I 

 suppose that something in my eye pricked her 

 conscience. I know that my eyes are rather sharp, 

 but I never thought to find them sharp enough 

 to reach the feminine conscience. Anyhow, we 

 happened to meet on the following day in the 

 barn among a pile of loose straw, into which the 

 two little scamps had burrowed, and had made for 

 themselves a cosy nest far away in the corner, 

 where a large hole in the wall let in enough light, 

 but not so much as to spoil the cosiness. 



I had been out for a stroll in the fresh air, since 

 there was plenty of cover round about for me to 

 hide myself if any danger threatened, only it hardly 

 ever did threaten me in that beautiful farm, and as 

 I came creeping in through the hole in the wall, 

 when I was tired of being out of doors, 1 heard 

 Betty's voice exclaim, ' Look, Billy ! there's that 

 jolly rat whom we caught stealing apples yester- 

 day.' ' He wasn't stealing any more than we were,' 

 replied Billy sturdily ; * he was only taking.' 



That all sounded very nice and friendly ; I am 

 not used to being called ' a jolly rat.' I am afraid 

 that the rude word ' beastly ' is much more often 

 used to describe me — by boys, at any rate. So I 



