"Can you play horses?"
"Yus," suddenly smiling into Jack's face.
"And cricket?"
"Kick it, a ball like this," throwing out her little foot. "Yus."
"Let's see how you run. I'll give you quite a long start, and we'll see which can get to the house first."
Eva's stout legs acquitted themselves so well that Jack's esteem and respect grew by leaps and bounds.
"You'll do quite well for a chum, after all," he said as he panted up to her. "Come along and see Aunt Betty."
Aunt Betty's whereabouts were not difficult to discover. Her song rose clear and full as a magpie as she busied herself in the dairy which adjoined the house. The sound of Jack's voice made her turn from her milk-pans to the doorway which framed him and his little companion.
"Why, Jack, who is the little girl?" she asked.
"Her name is Eva, and I've just settled she shall be my chum," was the decided answer.