One thing restrained him — the thought of his seeming ingratitude to good Mrs. Moss, and the disappointment of the little girls at the loss of their two new playfellows. While he paused to think of this, something happened which kept him from doing what he would have been sure to regret afterward.

Horses had always been his best friends, and one came trotting up to help him now; though he did not know how much he owed it till long after. Just in the act of swinging himself over the bars to take a shortcut across the fields, the sound of approaching hoofs, unaccompanied by the roll of wheels, caught his ear; and, pausing, he watched eagerly to see who was coming at such a pace.

At the turn of the road, however, the quick trot stopped, and in a moment a lady on a bay mare came pacing slowly into sight — a young and pretty lady, all in dark blue, with a bunch of dandelions like yellow stars in her buttonhole, and a silver-handled whip hanging from the pommel of her saddle, evidently more for ornament than use. The handsome mare limped a little, and shook her head as if something plagued her; while her mistress leaned down to see what was the matter, saying, as if she expected an answer of some sort—

“Now, Chevalita, if you have got a stone in your foot, I shall have to get off and take it out. Why don’t you look where you step, and save me all this trouble?”

“I’ll look for you, ma’am; I’d like to!” said an eager voice so unexpectedly, that both horse and rider started as a boy came down the bank with a jump.

“I wish you would. You need not be afraid; Lita is as gentle as a lamb,” answered the young lady, smiling, as if amused by the boy’s earnestness.

“She’s a beauty, anyway,” muttered Ben, lifting one foot after another till he found the stone, and with some trouble got it out.

“That was nicely done, and I’m much obliged. Can you tell me if that crossroad leads to the Elms?” asked the lady, as she went slowly on with Ben beside her.

“No, ma’am; I’m new in these parts, and I only know where Squire Morris and Mrs. Moss live.”

“I want to see both of them, so suppose you show me the way. I was here long ago, and thought I should remember how to find the old house with the elm avenue and the big gate, but I don’t.”

“I know it; they call that place the Laylocks now, ‘cause there’s a hedge of ’em all down the path and front wail. It’s a real pretty place; Bab and Betty play there, and so do I.”

Ben could not restrain a chuckle at the recollection of his first appearance there, and, as if his merriment or his words interested her, the lady said pleasantly, “Tell me all about it. Are Bab and Betty your sisters?”

Quite forgetting his intended tramp, Ben plunged into a copious history of himself and new-made friends, led on by a kind look, an inquiring word, and sympathetic smile, till he had told everything. At the schoolhouse corner he stopped and said, spreading his arms like a signpost—

“That’s the way to the Laylocks, and this is the way to the Squire’s.”

“As I’m in a hurry to see the old house, I’ll go this way first, if you will be kind enough to give my love to Mrs. Morris, and tell the Squire Miss Celia is coming to dine with him. I won’t say good-bye, because I shall see you again.”

With a nod and a smile, the young lady cantered away, and Ben hurried up the hill to deliver his message, feeling as if something pleasant was going to happen; so it would be wise to defer running away, for the present at least.

At one o’clock Miss Celia arrived, and Ben had the delight of helping Pat stable pretty Chevalita; then, his own dinner hastily eaten, he fell to work at the detested woodpile with sudden energy; for as he worked he could steal peeps into the dining room, and see the curly brown head between the two gray ones, as the three sat round the table. He could not help hearing a word now and then, as the windows were open, and these bits of conversation filled him with curiosity; for the names “Thorny,” “Celia,” and “George” were often repeated, and an occasional merry laugh from the young lady sounded like music in that usually quiet place.

When dinner was over, Ben’s industrious fit left him, and he leisurely trundled his barrow to and fro till the guest departed. There was no chance for him to help now, since Pat, anxious to get whatever trifle might be offered for his services, was quite devoted in his attentions to the mare and her mistress, till she was mounted and off. But Miss Celia did not forget her little guide, and, spying a wistful face behind the woodpile, paused at the gate and beckoned with that winning smile of hers. If ten Pats had stood scowling in the way, Ben would have defied them all; and, vaulting over the fence, he ran up with a shining face, hoping she wanted some last favor of him. Leaning down, Miss Celia slipped a new quarter into his hand, saying—

“Lita wants me to give you this for taking the stone out of her foot.”

“Thank y’, ma’am; I liked to do it, for I hate to see ’em limp, ‘specially such a pretty one as she is,” answered Ben, stroking the glossy neck with a loving touch.

“The Squire says you know a good deal about horses, so I suppose you understand the Houyhnhnm language? I’m learning it, and it is very nice,” laughed Miss Celia, as Chevalita gave a little whinny and snuggled her nose into Ben’s pocket.

“No, miss, I never went to school.”

“That is not taught there. I’ll bring you a book all about it when I come back. Mr. Gulliver went to the horse country and heard the dear things speak their own tongue.”

“My father has been on the prairies, where there’s lots of wild ones, but he didn’t hear ’em speak. I know what they want without talkin’,” answered Ben, suspecting a joke, but not exactly seeing what it was.

“I don’t doubt it, but I won’t forget the book. Good-bye, my lad, we shall soon meet again,” and away went Miss Celia as if she were in a hurry to get back.

“If she only had a red habit and a streamin’ white feather, she’d look as fine as ‘Melia used to. She is ‘most as kind and rides ‘most as well. Wonder where she’s goin’ to. Hope she will come soon,” thought Ben, watching till the last flutter of the blue habit vanished round the corner; and then he went back to his work with his head full of the promised book, pausing now and then to chink the two silver halves and the new quarter together in his pocket, wondering what he should buy with this vast sum.

Bab and Betty meantime had had a most exciting day; for when they went home at noon they found the pretty lady there, and she had talked to them like an old friend, given them a ride on the little horse, and kissed them both goodbye when they went back to school. In the afternoon the lady was gone, the old house all open, and their mother sweeping, dusting, airing, in great spirits. So they had a splendid frolic tumbling on feather beds, beating bits of carpet, opening closets, and racing from garret to cellar like a pair of distracted kittens.

Here Ben found them, and was at once overwhelmed with a burst of news which excited him as much as it did them. Miss Celia owned the house, was coming to live there, and things were to be made ready as soon as possible.