A SAD STORY. 97

box where I had left them, they were scampering
about in a beautiful new rabbit hutch! It was
painted green, and had an enclosed wire yard in
front, so that one could place it on the grass, to
allow of the rabbits nibbling it fresh and growing.
It was a kind of hutch that I had often longed to
have, but had never been able to save enough pocket
money to buy.
 "As I began to realise my good fortune in such a
possession, and was stooping down more fully to
examine my prize, I heard a step behind me, and on
looking up beheld our old cook and housekeeper,
Betsy, standing at the stable door with a broad smile
of good-humoured pleasure on her face.
 "'O Betsy !' I exclaimed, 'do you know who has
given me this splendid rabbit hutch ?'
 "'Deed, then, I ought to know,' answered the old
woman in a tone of importance, 'for didn't the
master go down three times yesterday to hurry
the carpenter, for fear it wouldn't be home afore
you was back from your "nutting," and wasn't it
all I could do to keep his chops from being burnt
black as a cinder, he was that unpunctual to his
dinner ?'
 "'And-and-then-father has given it me?' I
asked, a great lump rising in my throat as I
spoke.
 G