She rushed to meet them. 'Oh, please, sir, don't carry Dick away!' she cried. 'He is so little, and he is too fat ever to learn to dance on a tight-rope!'
'Why, I am bringing him home,' the man said; 'and what have I to do with tight-ropes?'
Then Fanny recognised the gentleman as a friend of the Squire's, who was staying with him at the Hall.
'I beg your pardon, sir; I thought the circus people had stolen him,' she stammered.
'They have stolen a little girl's wits, I think,' said the gentleman, smiling. 'I found Dick all alone and very forlorn, so I took him for a ride, and am now bringing him back to see if there is any one here to take care of him. Are you the sister who was left in charge?'
'I forgot all about him,' Fanny confessed, blushing and hanging her head, 'and I was so frightened when I came home and did not find him here.'
'Well, look after your little brother better another time,' the gentleman said, as he lifted Dick down and rode away.
And forgetful Fanny remembered this lesson, and tried not to be so thoughtless again.
M. H.