uirrels. "I came over on the pony this mornin'," he said. "Eh! he
is a good little chap--Jump is! I brought these two in my pockets.
This here one he's called Nut an' this here other one's called Shell."

When he said "Nut" one squirrel leaped on to his right shoulder and
when he said "Shell" the other one leaped on to his left shoulder.

When they sat down on the grass with Captain curled at their feet, Soot
solemnly listening on a tree and Nut and Shell nosing about close to
them, it seemed to Mary that it would be scarcely bearable to leave
such delightfulness, but when she began to tell her story somehow the
look in Dickon's funny face gradually changed her mind. She could see
he felt sorrier for Colin than she did. He looked up at the sky and
all about him.

"Just listen to them birds--th' world seems full of 'em--all whistlin'
an' pipin'," he said. "Look at 'em dartin' about, an' hearken at 'em
callin' to each other. Come springtime seems like as if all th'
world's callin'. The leaves is uncurlin' so you can see 'em--an', my
word, th' nice smells there is about!" sniffing with his happy
turned-up nose. "An' that poor lad lyin' shut up an' seein' so little
that he gets to thinkin' o' things as sets him screamin'. Eh! my! we
mun get him out here--we mun get him watchin' an listenin' an' sniffin'
up th' air an' get him just soaked through wi' sunshine. An' we munnot
lose no time about it."

When he was very much interested he often spoke quite broad Yorkshire
though at other times he tried to modify his dialect so that Mary could
better understand. But she loved his broad Yorkshire and had in fact
been trying to learn to speak it herself. So she spoke a little now.

"Aye, that we mun," she said (which meant "Yes, indeed, we must").
"I'll tell thee what us'll do first," she proceeded, and Dickon
grinned, because when the little wench tried to twist her tongue into
speaking Yorkshire it amused him very much. "He's took a graidely
fancy to thee. He wants to see thee and he wants to see Soot an'
Captain. When I go back to the house to talk to him I'll ax him if
tha' canna' come an' see him tomorrow mornin'--an'. bring tha'
creatures wi' thee--an' then--in a bit, when there's more leaves out,
an' happen a bud or two, we'll get him to come out an' tha' shall push
him in his chair an' we'll bring him here an' show him everything."

When she stopped she was quite proud of herself. She had never made a
l