“I want to do something toward paying for my breakfast,” he said hesitatingly; “but I never saw a cow before, and that one acted as if he was up to mischief. I s’pose they’re a good deal like dogs—all right after a feller gets acquainted with ’em.”
“Some cows are ugly, I suppose,” Gladys replied reflectively, taking Snip once more in her arms as the little fellow hung back in alarm when White-Face stopped to gather a tempting bunch of clover; “but Aunt Hannah has had this one ever since she was a calf, and we two are great friends. She’s a real well-behaved cow, an’ never makes any trouble about going into pasture. There, she’s in now, and all we’ve got to do is to put up the bars. By the time we get back breakfast will be ready. Did you walk all the way from the city?”
There was no necessity for Seth to make a reply, because at this instant an audacious wren flew past within a dozen inches of Snip’s nose, causing him to spring from the girl’s arms in a vain pursuit, which was not ended until the children were at the kitchen door.
The morning meal was prepared, and as Gladys drew out a chair to show Seth where he should sit, Aunt Hannah asked anxiously:
“What does the dog do while you are eating?”
“You’ll see how well he can behave himself,” Snip’s master replied proudly, as the little fellow laid down on the floor at a respectful distance from the table.
Much to Seth’s surprise, instead of immediately beginning the meal, the little woman bowed her head reverentially, Gladys following the example, and for the first time in his life did the boy hear a blessing invoked upon the food of which he was about to partake.
It caused him just a shade of uneasiness and perhaps awe, this “prayin’ before breakfast” as he afterward expressed it while going over the events of the day with Snip, and he did not feel wholly at ease until the meal had well nigh come to an end.
Then the little woman gave free rein to her curiosity, by asking:
“Where are you going, my boy?”