“The thief? Oh, I brought him too,” he said coolly.
“But where is he?” she demanded looking around. “I do not see him.”
“Here,” he said sweeping her an elaborate bow.
“Thee?” Peggy recoiled involuntarily as the lad spoke. “Oh, how could thee do it? How could thee?” she burst forth.
“I couldn’t. That’s why I brought her back. I don’t steal from a girl.”
“But why did thee keep her so long?” she asked, mollified somewhat by this speech.
“I wanted to see my people,” he answered.
“And did thee?” she queried, her tender heart stirred by this.
“No; they had moved, or something had happened. They weren’t there any more.” He spoke wearily and with some bitterness. “I’d have sold that horse if I hadn’t kept thinking how fond you were of her.”
“And did thee know that I had offered a reward for her, friend?”