“WHERE are you going, Miss Sophia?” asked Letty, looking over the gate.
“I am going to walk,” answered Miss Sophia. “Would you like to come
with me, Letty?”
“Oh yes!” cried Letty, “I should like to go very much indeed! Only
wait, please, while I get my bonnet!”
And Letty danced into the house, and danced out again with her brown
poke bonnet over her sunny hair.
“Here I am, Miss Sophia!” she cried. “Now, where shall we go?”
“Down the lane!” said Miss Sophia, “and through the orchard into the
fields. Perhaps we may find some strawberries.”
So away they went, the young lady walking demurely along, while the
little girl frolicked and skipped about, now in front, now behind. It
was pretty in the green lane. The ferns were soft and plumy, and the
moss firm and springy under their feet. The trees bent down and talked
to the ferns, and told them stories about the birds that were building
in their branches; and the ferns had stories, too, about the black
velvet mole who lived under their roots, and who had a star on the end
of his nose.
But Letty and Miss Sophia did not hear all this; they only heard a soft
whispering, and never thought what it meant.
Presently they came out of the lane, and passed through the orchard,
and then came out into the broad, sunny meadow.
“Now, Letty,” said Miss Sophia, “use your bright eyes, and see if you
can find any strawberries! I will sit under a tree and rest a little.”
Away danced Letty, and soon she was peeping and peering under every
leaf and grass blade; but no gleam of scarlet, no pretty clusters of
red and white could she see. Evidently it was not a strawberry meadow.
She came back to the tree, and said,—
“There are no strawberries, at all, Miss Sophia, not even one. But I
have found something else. Wouldn’t you like to see it? Something very
pretty.”
“What is it, dear?” asked Miss Sophia. “A flower? I should like to see
it, certainly.”
“No, it is not a flower,” said Letty; “it’s a cow.”
“What?” cried Miss Sophia, springing to her feet.
“A cow,” said Letty, “a pretty, spotted cow. She’s coming after me, I
think.”
Miss Sophia looked in the direction which Letty pointed, and there, to
be sure, was a cow, moving slowly toward them. She gave a shriek of
terror; then, controlling herself, she threw her arms around Letty.
“Be calm, my child!” she said, “I will save you! Be calm!”
“Why, what is the matter, Miss Sophia?” cried Letty in alarm.
Miss Sophia’s face was very pale, and she trembled; but she seized
Letty’s arm, and bade her walk as fast as she could.
“If we should run,” she said, in a quivering voice, “it would run after
us, and then we could not possibly escape. Walk fast, my child! Don’t
scream! Try to keep calm!”
“Why, Miss Sophia!” cried the astonished child, “you don’t think I’m
afraid of that cow, do you? Why, it’s—”
“Hush! hush!” whispered Miss Sophia, dragging her along, “you will
only enrage the creature by speaking aloud. I will save you, dear, if
I can! See! we are getting near the fence. Can’t you walk a little
faster?”
“Moo-oo-ooo!” said the cow, which was now following them at a quicker
pace.
“Oh! oh!” cried Miss Sophia. “I shall faint, I know I shall! Letty,
don’t faint too, dear. Let one of us escape. Courage, child! Be calm!
Oh! there is the fence. Run, now, _run_ for your life!”
The next minute they were both over the fence. Letty stood panting,
with eyes and wide mouth open; but Miss Sophia clasped her in her arms
and burst into tears.
“Safe!” she sobbed. “My dear, dear child, we are safe!”
“Yes, I suppose we are safe,” said the bewildered Letty. “But what was
the matter? It was Uncle George’s cow, and she was coming home to be
milked!”
“Moo-oo-oo!” said Uncle George’s cow, looking over the fence.