The Dwarf Woman 149

manage to tell them at the farm that you are
quite safe. Perhaps your little dog would
run there?”

But Ju-Ju’s eyes grew quite round with
indignation, and he instantly flung himself
on the ground, and gasped as if he were
very ill.

“Darling Ju-Ju!” said Joan, dragging
him up into her arms. “No, he is as tired
as I am, and he would never leave us,
because he is such a dear!”

Barthel was the eldest, and of course he
had to decide. It was very difficult for him.
The plan really sounded sensible, for how-
ever much they wished it it was clearly
impossible for Joan to walk all those miles;
and although for one minute he thought of
letting her go to the dwarf woman’s house
and returning home by himself, he was sure
his mother would never have approved of
his leaving her quite alone with a stranger.

“Well,” he said unwillingly, ‘‘where is
the cart?”

If he had been looking at the dwarf woman