"Take him? To be sure I will, and glad to get him, too. The old country turns out a pearl now and then with the supposed rubbish she sends to us as slaves, and this lad is one, or I am greatly mistaken; and living here opens a man's eyes, I can tell you; so that I am not often wrong in the judgment I form of the lads who come to me. I have bought one or two, as I might have bought this lad, but when they have run away because I was too strict with them, I have not thought them worth the expense of the town-crier going after them, they were of so little service to me."
"What became of them then?" asked the visitor.
"After spending a few days in the wood, where they were nearly starved, they would come back and ask to be forgiven, generally; but I soon found an opportunity of sending them elsewhere, for horses are ticklish beasts, and need a deal of care and watching when they are out of sorts, and very few ever learn this sufficiently to be of any use; so you may judge when this lad begged to be left to watch the foal for an hour, whether I am likely to part with him in a hurry."
It was evident that Mr. Consett had taken a great liking to Eric, and Sister Martin could but feel thankful that the responsibility that she had assumed for a time had thus been taken from her shoulders so easily. But still, she wanted to know what Eric himself thought of his master, and the place where the next few years of his life at least would have to be spent. And so, when he came back from the field to have his dinner, she was very glad to be left alone with him for a little while.
"The foal is better now," he said as he came in.
"Come and get your dinner, and tell Sister Martin all about it, while you eat it," said Mrs. Consett. And when she had set the dinner on the table she left the two by themselves to talk.
"So you think you will like this place, Eric?" said his friend, when his hunger had been somewhat satisfied.
"Like it? Oh, Sister Martin, if you could see the beautiful horses Mr. Consett has got here. Little things some of them are, that want looking after carefully too. There is nothing in all the world that could be to me what the dear dumb things are, and to think I shall have these to look after and take care of. How good the Lord has been to me! I can believe now that the landlord of The Magpie was God's messenger, for it was there I learned to know so much about horses, and I also had time to go into the woods and watch the other creatures as well. Yes, he might not know it himself, but my dear old master was God's messenger, and this was the best place I could have come to, though I thought it very dreadful to be sent away as though I was a thief, just because I was poor and had nothing to do; but I see now God knew better than I did what was good for me, and I don't think I shall ever doubt Him again."
[CHAPTER VII.]
A WILD GOOSE CHASE.