CHAPTER IV.
"I do think it was one of the goodest things I ever heard of," said Jerry confidentially, as she drove with one of the "light gentlemen" to the pantomime.
She had just finished an account of Bobbie's heroic sacrifice of the day before; and as Bobbie himself was following in a hansom cab, with the other uncle, it was quite safe to relate the whole story without fear of interruptions.
"He wanted those guinea-pigs dreadfully," continued Jerry, "and he gave everything he had to the poor little girl. He cried horribly about it, though. He was literally roaring when we got back from Mrs. Funnel's tea, though he went and hid himself so that we shouldn't know; but nurse said his blouse was quite damp!"
"Shall we go round on our way back, and order Bobbie some new guinea-pigs, as a surprise?" asked Uncle Ronald, who had listened to the story with all the respectful sympathy expected of him.
Jerry gave a shriek of delight. "Oh, how lovely! May I choose? I know just his favourite colours."
As Bobbie took his usual stroll into the stable yard on Monday morning, he was astonished to see Jeptha approaching him with a large box on a wheelbarrow.
"Summut for you, Master Bobbie. Come by rail; and there seems to be a deal of moving about and squeaking a-goin' on inside!"
Bobbie unfastened the covers with feverish haste; and there was a hutch such as he had never even dreamt of, with a row of four little eager noses sticking out between the bars.
A label hanging to the wire said, "From the two light gentlemen."
"Well now, Master Bobbie, if ever I saw the like of that!" cried Jeptha admiringly. "Why, they're all a-sittin' as comfortable as you please, in a kind of a Eastern palace."
Bobbie, who was almost delirious with delight and excitement, ran in to fetch Jerry.
"Oh, Jerry, come out!" he cried. "The light gentlemen—in a splendid blue cage with red stripes, come by train! And such guinea-pigs! Just the kind I wanted—two long-hair. Oh, I do think this is the splendidest day of my life, and as long as I live I won't never forget it!"