"My wife and children will be pleased to see you, I know," the farmer continued; "you'll be very welcome."
"And Rags?" said Una, smiling as she put her hand on the dog's shaggy back, "you will be pleased to see me too, won't you, Rags?"
"You are fond of animals, I can see," remarked Mr. Maple.
"Oh, yes!" she answered readily, "so is father! He says he cannot think how any one can serve animals badly! It's so unchristian, isn't it?"
"I suppose it is, Missy, though I never thought of it in that light before!"
"Don't you remember what God says: 'Every beast of the forest is Mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all the fowls of the mountains, and the wild beasts of the field are Mine.' Animals belong to God just as much as we do, don't they?"
The farmer nodded, looking with interest at the bright, animated face of the child. She put up her hand, and softly caressed the curly fleece of the motherless lamb.
"Dear little thing!" she murmured, "I do hope it will live! How will your wife manage to feed it?"
"She puts the finger of a kid glove on to the spout of a tea-pot, and lets the lambs who lose their mothers take the milk that way. She's reared many like that, and it's wonderful how soon the little creatures get to know her."
With a cheery "Good morning," the farmer turned his footsteps homewards, followed by Rags; and Una calling to Crack, who was rat hunting in the hedge, ran back along the road towards Coombe Villa.