Rosamond,' I'd like to see them very much.'

'And,' said Justin, forgetting his promise to his aunt, 'the ferrets--
Tom Brick has got his ferrets here to-day, you know, Archie. They are
going to have a good rat hunt to-morrow morning.'

'Ferrets,' said Rosamond innocently, 'what are they? I never heard of
them. Are they nice and tame and pretty?'

'Oh lovely,' said Justin, beginning to laugh. 'They're the hideousest
things there are. And if you get one up your sleeve--ugh--it does feel
horrid. All the same they're splendid chaps for rats. I'd give anything
to have a pair of my own, I can tell you.'

'I don't want to see them, thank you,' said the little girl. 'Do they
eat rats? I don't like pets that eat each other.'

Justin laughed more loudly.

'Eat each other,' he repeated. 'Rats and ferrets don't eat each other.
Besides, ferrets aren't like foxes--they're not fierce; they're jolly
little beggars. I only wish I had a couple.'

'Oh, I say, Justin,' exclaimed Archie, 'I wouldn't call them not fierce.
Why does Bob Crag muzzle his when he's going to catch rabbits with
them?'

'Because they would eat rabbits if they were hungry. Rabbits would be
nicer to eat than rats, I should think, though I daresay they'd eat rats
too if they were ravenous--and they have to be ravenous when they're
used for ratting, to make them eager, for when they've had lots to eat
they are sad lazy little beggars.'

'That's like snakes,' said Rosamond, with a small shudder. 'I'm sure I
shouldn't like ferrets, Justin. Don't let's talk about them any more.
Who is Bob Crag?'

'Oh, he's a boy,' said Justin, with some slight hesitation. 'He lives
out on the moor with his grandmother.'

'You can see their cottage,' said Archie, 'from the top of the mound
behind the paddock, such a queer, wild sort of place; we pass it on our
way to the vicarage, when it's a fine day.'

'I'd like to see the moor,' said Rosamond, her eyes brightening.

'Come along then,' said Justin, 'it won't take us two minutes to run up
the mound,' and off they set.

CHAPTER III

GUESTS AT TEA

Rosamond drew a long breath as they reached the top of the mound.

'Oh!' she said. 'I never saw a moor before. What a long, long way you
can see!' and her eyes, full of wonder and pleasure, gazed before them
over the brown expanse, broken here and there by patches of green or by
the still remaining purple of the fast-fading heather; here and there,
too, gleams of lin