her up like as if she'd bin a human Christian. And
he brung her through. Like a skilliton she wur at fust, but she picked
up after a bit and got saucy again. An' ever sin that she'll foller him
and rub her head agin' him, and come to his whistle like a dog. An' so
the old master, he says: `The little cow's yer own now, Peter, to do as
you like with,' he says; `no one else'd a had the patience to bring her
through. An' if you'll take my advice you'll sell her, for she'll never
be much good to us.'"

"But Peter wouldn't sell her, I suppose?" asked Lilac eagerly.

"No fear," replied Ben's muffled voice; "he's martal fond of
None-so-pretty."

Lilac looked with great interest at the little cow. An odd pair of
friends--she and Peter--and as unlike as they could possibly be, for
None-so-pretty was as graceful and slender in her proportions as he was
clumsy and awkward-limbed. It was a good thing that there was someone
to admire and like Peter, even if it were only a cow; for Lilac had not
been a month at the farm without beginning to feel a little pity for
him. He was uncouth and stupid, to be sure, but it was hard, she
thought, that he should be so incessantly worried and jeered at. From
the moment he entered the house to the moment he left it, there was
something wrong in what he said or did. If he sat down on the settle
and wearily stretched out his long legs, someone was sure to tumble over
them: "Peter, how stupid you are!" If he opened his mouth to speak he
said something laughable, and if to eat, there was something vulgar in
his manners which called down a sharp reproof from Bella, who considered
herself a model of refinement and good taste. He took all this in
unmoved silence, and seldom said a word except to talk to his father on
farming matters; but Lilac, looking on from her quiet corner, often felt
sorry for him, as she would have done to see any large, patient animal
ill-treated and unable to complain.

"Anyhow," she said to herself as she stood with her eyes fixed on
None-so-pretty after Ben had done his story, "if he is common he's
kind."

Her reflections were disturbed by Ben's voice making another remark,
which came from the side of a large red cow named Cherry:

"There's not a better lot of coos, nor richer milk than what they give,
this side Lenham." Lilac made no answer.

"An' if so be as the dairy wur properly worked they'd most pay the rent
of this 'ere farm, with the poultry thrown