11. Nelly began to make great haste, while Mercy went to the window and looked out.
"How thick the snow is!" she said. "And how white it looks in the moonshine!
12. "But what is that dark thing standing by the old shed?" Nelly ran up and pressed her little face against the window to peep out too. "Why, it is a donkey!" she cried. "How did it get there?"
13. "I tell you what," said Mercy, "it is our poor old Brownie, that father sold last week to Mr. Smith, that he might pay the doctor's bill with the money.
14. "He had spent all we had in getting things for mother when she was ill, you know, and in bread for us. So poor Brownie had to go."
15. "Why does he not go into the shed? How stupid of him to stand there! And why did he not stay with Mr. Smith, I wonder?"
"I suppose he could not help thinking about us, and that is why he came back," said Mercy. "Perhaps Mr. Smith has no little girls to pet him, and maybe he is not so good to him as father was."
Write: Two little girls went to their warm beds. As they looked out at the window they saw a donkey. It stood out in the cold.
Questions: 1. What sort of night did Peter think it was? 2. What was his wife so glad to think of? 3. What did Mercy say about the hens' house? 4. What did the children see when they looked out at the window? 5. What did Mercy think was the reason why the donkey had come back?