"I'll bet she's the best in town," Jack replied enthusiastically, as he pulled clover for the gentle animal to eat.
"Not quite that, Jack dear, for Deacon Downs has a Jersey that leads everything."
"At any rate his cow can't be as kind as this one."
"That may be," Aunt Nancy replied meditatively as she kissed the fawn colored nose. "I do really think we couldn't have found a better substitute for poor old crumple-horn."
Then the animal was examined critically, without a single flaw having been found, and not until half an hour was spent in this manner could she be allowed to enter the pasture.
Aunt Nancy thought it her duty to see Mrs. Souders at the earliest opportunity in order to thank her for the gift, and decided to do so on the following morning when the breakfast dishes had been cleared away.
Jack went to clean the stall in the barn for the new cow's occupancy, and was working industriously when he fancied he heard a cry of distress coming from the direction of the duck pond.
His first thought was that Louis had strayed again, but on looking out, both he and the little woman were seen under the big oak, apparently as happy and contented as well could be.
Believing he had been deceived by his fancy, he resumed the work, but only to stop an instant later as the cries sounded more distinct.
This time there could be no mistake, and he ran toward Aunt Nancy as he asked,—