ned lap
among the contingent circumstances of the afternoon. Holding the bottle
over the listless animal, she managed to get some drops on its tongue.

"Now," said Miriam, "we will put that in its mouth, and shut its
jaws, and perhaps it may begin to suck. It will be perfectly dreadful
if it dies."

The two girls sat close together, their eyes fixed upon the apparently
lifeless head of the bovine infant.

"See!" cried Miriam, presently, "its throat moves; I believe it is
sucking the milk."

Dora leaned over and gazed. It was indeed true; the calf was beginning to
take an interest in food. The interest increased; the girls could see the
milk slowly diminishing in the bottle. Before long the creature gave its
head a little wobble. Miriam was delighted.

"That is the way it always does, when its appetite is good. We must let
it drink every drop, if it will."

There they sat on the hard, hay-strewn floor, one entirely, and the other
almost entirely covered with purple silk, their eyes fixed upon the
bottle and the feeding calf. After a time the latter declined to take any
more milk, and raised its head from Miriam's lap.

"There," she cried; "see, it can hold up its own head. I expect it was
only faint from want of food. After this I will feed it oftener. It was
the bread-making that made me forget it this time."

"Let us wait a minute," said Dora, who was now taking an earnest and
womanly interest in the welfare of this weakling. "Perhaps after a while
it may want some more." And so they continued to sit. Every motion of the
calf's head, and every effort it made to bend its legs, or change its
position, sent sparkles of delight into Miriam's eyes, and brightened
Dora's beautiful face with sympathetic smiles.

Dora had taken up the bottle, and was about to give the calf an
opportunity to continue its repast, when suddenly she stopped and sat
motionless. Outside the barn, approaching footsteps could be plainly
heard. They were heavy, apparently those of a man. Dora dropped the
bottle, letting it roll unheeded upon the floor; then pushing Miriam's
skirt from her lap, she sprang to her feet, and stepped backwards and
away from the little group so quickly, that she nearly stumbled over some
inequalities in the floor. Miriam looked up in astonishment.

"You needn't be frightened," she said. "How red you are! I suppose it is
only Ralph."

"I was afraid it was," said Dora, in a low voice, as she shook out her
skirts.