James watched his opportunity, and taking Mrs. Whitman aside, said,—
“I don’t think Mr. Whitman ought to keep this colt for me, it is doing too much for such as me. It takes a good deal to keep a horse.”
“That don’t amount to anything, James; we’ve hay enough, and pasture enough; there’s no market here for hay and we want to eat it up on the place, and we never shall miss what that little creature eats.”
“But by-and-by he will eat as much as the other horses.”
“Then you can sell him or let us use him, it will be handy to have a spare horse to use when the others are at work, and to go to market or to mill with.”
“I am afraid Mr. Whitman will think I asked for him, and can never be satisfied. I was out to the barn, when Bertie came running, and asked me if I should like such a little thing to make a pet of, and I said ‘I am sure I should,’ and away he went; he didn’t tell me he had asked his father to keep it for me, and the next thing I knew they came with the colt, and said it was mine and that their father would keep it for me.”
“Husband wanted you to have it, he knew just what Bertie would do when he went to the barn; you have never had any home, and we want you to feel that this is your home. Husband wants you to have this little colt because he thinks it will make you happy, and by-and-by it will be worth considerable to you, and you can see it grow, and we shall never feel the difference.”
“It will make me happy, for I do love horses, I think they are nearer to us than other creatures, and I shall love this little fellow like a brother, but I want you to tell Peter and Bertie not to ask their father for any more things for me. I am afraid Mr. Whitman will think I put ‘em up to ask.”
“Why, James, he loves to give you things. They did not ask him to send you to school, nor to give you boards to make your chest, nor to let you have that piece of ground to plant, it came out of his own head and heart; he is just the best man that ever was in this world, and the children take after him, and he takes after his father. Grandfather is getting a little childish sometimes now, but he is the best old gentleman that ever was, and a real treasure.”
It was so dark when the boys got the colt home, that they could not have a fair view of him, but the next morning the children were all at the barn by sunrise, and their mother with them, to give him his breakfast.