"But did she see that puss was there?" said Willie.
O, yes; I forgot to tell you that after she had a little recovered of the first joy of seeing her child safe, nurse held up Helen with puss in her arms, and Robert climbed up on the stump of a tree, and held up the cradle as high as he could.
"And then what did they do when the mother came?" said Mary.
She kissed her baby, and cried over it, and held it a long time in her arms; and her husband, who came also, told them that the flood had risen so suddenly that it had carried away part of the wall of their cottage, and swept away everything they had, while he and his wife were trying to save their stack of wood; and that when they turned round, at the sound of the rushing water, they found that the cradle was gone; and then they forgot every thing else, and ran with several of their neighbors by the side of the river; but never hoped to find their child alive.
"But it was alive, and safe, and well," said Mary, "with these kind little girls and little Robert."
And when their uncle and aunt came home they were very kind to the father and mother. They had their cottage built up again and furnished, and gave them help in putting their garden in order, and there always continued to be kind feeling between them. As to the baby, it grew up to be a fine strong boy, and its parents named it Robert, in memory of the little boy who had helped to save it from the water.
The Little Milk-maid.
