“Yes, my daughter; and a more disagreeable, disgusting animal I cannot conceive of.”
“I hope you are not wishing for a baboon to add to your pets,” added her mother, laughing.
“I don’t believe Jacko would get along with that great fellow at all,” answered the child. “But, father, will you please tell me something more about the curious animals?”
The conversation was here interrupted by seeing that a carriage had stopped just in front of their own, and that quite a crowd had gathered about some person who seemed to be hurt.
Minnie’s sympathies were alive in an instant. She begged her father to get out, as possibly he might be of some use.
The driver stopped of his own accord, and inquired what had happened, and then they saw that it was a spaniel that was hurt. He had been in the road, and not getting out of the way quick enough, the wheel had gone over his body.
The young lady who was in the buggy was greatly distressed, from which Minnie argued that she was kind to animals, and that they should like her.
The owner of the dog held the poor creature in her arms, though it seemed to be in convulsions, and wept bitterly as she found it must die.
Mr. Lee, to please his little daughter, waited a few minutes; but he found her getting so much excited over the suffering animal, he gave John orders to proceed.
During the rest of the drive, she could talk of nothing else, wondering whether the spaniel was alive now, or whether the young man in the buggy paid for hurting it.