he spikes gently with her finger, and gave a little
cry as the ball moved slightly and became half unrolled; then curled
itself up as before.

"Oh, Tom, it's alive!" she cried.

[Illustration: "'Oh, Tom, it's alive!' cried Una."]

"Yes, it's alive," said Tom. "It's a hedge-hog, Una. The little
gipsy-boy found it this morning under a gorse-bush, among some leaves.
Hedgehogs go to sleep all the winter, rolled up like this in a ball;
and they store up a lot of food somewhere near in case they wake up and
get hungry during the winter; and when the spring comes they wake quite
up, and begin to move about. That is why this one is really awake now,
only he has rolled himself up, and pretends to be asleep, because he's
frightened."

"Oh, the funny little thing!" said Una, bending down to see if she
could catch a glimpse of the hedgehog's bright little eyes.

"What do you think I'm going to do with it?" asked Tom.

"Keep it?" suggested Una.

"No," said the boy, "I'm going to give it to you."

"Oh, Tom--what for?" asked the little girl, trying to look very pleased
and grateful, but wondering whatever she was to do with such a prickly
present.

"What for? Why, for you to have as a pet," said Tom. "You're not half
such a silly girl as I thought you were; and, of course, you can't help
not being English," he added magnanimously. "And, you know, I do think
it is awfully dull for you, shut up in that big garden, when we're not
there to play with you: and now you'll have the hedgehog to play with."

"So I shall," said Una. "What--what shall I do with it, Tom?"

"Why, feed it," said the boy, "and teach it to know you and to come
when you call. You'll have to name it, Una, and teach it tricks and
all sorts of things," and poor Tom gave one big sigh as he thought how
he would have liked to keep that hedgehog for himself instead of giving
it to Una.

Una was too polite, however, to say she did not want the little animal.
She knew that it was very kind of Tom to have given it to her, though
she had no idea how much he wanted it himself; and she asked him to
come home with her that afternoon and make a house for it in the
garden, so that it should not run away and get lost in the woods.

After all, Tom's present turned out a great success. It was the first
time Una had ever had a pet in her life, and she became so fond of the
little creature that she would spend hours playing with it in the
garden, tickling its littl