all three sat close
together on the one backless seat, and drove off gaily, Mademoiselle
Loire "handling the ribbons," and all the little boys in the street
shouting encouragement in the rear.

The donkey went along at an excellent, though somewhat erratic, pace,
for every now and then he sprang forward with a lurch that was somewhat
disconcerting to the occupants of the cart. The first time, indeed,
that he did so, Barbara was quite unprepared, and, after clutching
wildly at the side of the cart and missing it, she subsided into the
straw at the back, from which she was extricated by her companions,
amid much laughter.

"Would you prefer to sit between us?" Mademoiselle Loire asked her,
when she was once more reinstated in her position. "You would perhaps
feel firmer?"

"Oh, no, thank you," said Barbara hastily. "I will hold on to the side
now, and be prepared."

"He does have rather a queer motion," Mademoiselle Loire; remarked
complacently; "but he's swift, and that is a great matter, and you soon
get used to his leaps. I should think," she went on, looking at the
donkey's long gray ears critically, "he would make a good jumper."

"I should think he might," replied Barbara, subduing her merriment. "I
don't think our English donkeys jump much, as a rule; but the Brittany
ones seem much more accomplished."

"Undoubtedly," her companion continued calmly. "My sister says when
_she_ was in England she tried to drive a donkey, and it backed the
carriage into the ditch. They must be an inferior breed." To which
remark Barbara was powerless to reply for the time being.

The drive was a very pretty one, and the donkey certainly deserved his
driver's praises, for he brought them to the inn in good time. It was
a quaint little place, standing close to the roadside, but, in spite of
that fact, looking as if it were not greatly frequented. As they drove
up, they saw an old woman sitting outside under a tree, reading a
newspaper; but, on hearing the sound of wheels, she jumped up and ran
to the gate. As soon as Mademoiselle Loire had descended she flung
herself upon her; and Barbara wondered how the latter, who was spare
and thin, supported the substantial form of her nurse.

She had time to look about her, for her three companions were making a
great hubbub, and, as they all spoke together, at the top of their
voices, it took some minutes to understand what each was saying. Then
Barbara was remembered and i