e by sentiment when she sees that left-hand road.
She bears to the left like a whirlwind, and nothing can stop her mad
career until she is again amid the scenes so dear to her recollection,
the beloved pastures where the mother still lives at whose feet she
brayed in early youth!

Now this is all very pretty and touching. Her action has, in truth, its
springs in a most commendable sentiment that I should be the last to
underrate. Shady Dell Farm is interesting, too, for once, if one can
swallow one's wrath and dudgeon at being taken there against one's will;
and one feels that Jane's parents and Jane's early surroundings must
be worth a single visit, if they could produce a donkey of such unusual
capacity. Still, she must know, if she knows anything, that a person
does not come from America and pay one and fourpence the hour (or
thereabouts) merely in order to visit the home of her girlhood, which is
neither mentioned in Baedeker nor set down in the local guide-books as a
feature of interest.

Whether, in addition to her affection for Shady Dell Farm, she has an
objection to St. Bridget's Well, and thus is strengthened by a
double motive, I do not know. She may consider it a relic of
popish superstition; she may be a Protestant donkey; she is a
Dissenter,--there's no doubt about that.

But, you ask, have you tried various methods of bringing her to terms
and gaining your own desires? Certainly. I have coaxed, beaten, prodded,
prayed. I have tried leading her past the Shady Dell turn; she walks
all over my feet, and then starts for home, I running behind until I
can catch up with her. I have offered her one and tenpence the hour; she
remained firm. One morning I had a happy inspiration; I determined on
conquering Jane by a subterfuge. I said to myself: "I am going to start
for St. Bridget's Well, as usual; several yards before we reach the two
roads, I shall begin pulling, not the right, but the left rein. Jane
will lift her ears suddenly, and say to herself: 'What! has this girl
fallen in love with my birthplace at last, and does she now prefer it
to St. Bridget's Well? Then she shall not have it!' Whereupon Jane
will race madly down the right-hand road for the first time, I pulling
steadily at the left rein to keep up appearances, and I shall at last
realise my wishes."

This was my inspiration. Would you believe that it failed utterly? It
should have succeeded, and would with an ordinary donkey, but Jane saw
thro