Adventure of a Kite | Page 6

and making a
great fuss. Helen ran away and got a saucer full of milk, and put it
down in the lobby. At this, puss began to walk slowly in, and then ran
up to it and lapped it all up; and then she let Helen take her up, and

carry her into the room where the baby was.
While they were all engaged in this way, they heard sounds of voices
shouting and calling out near the river, and ran to the window to see
what it was. They saw far out, on the other side of the water, near the
edge of the meadow, five or six men and a woman, and the gardener
was making signs and calling out to them.
"O!" said nurse, "you may be sure that is the poor mother of the baby."
"Let us run out and hold up the baby, to show her it is safe!" cried
Charlotte. "Come quick! O, how happy she will be!"
Nurse wrapped up the baby in a warm shawl, and out they went. Helen
carried the cat, and little Robert came bustling after them with the
cradle, shouting as loud as he could, "They're all safe! here they are!
look here!"
When the gardener saw them coming, he ran and caught up little
Charlotte in his arms, and nurse gave her the baby, and she held it up as
high as she could. The poor woman, who was indeed the mother, saw it
directly, and seemed hardly able to bear so much joy, for her husband
who was by her, threw his arm round her as if to prevent her falling
down. She clasped her hands together--then held them out towards her
child--then raised them upwards.
Mary and Willie could not sit still any longer, they both jumped up, and
began to clap their hands and dance for joy.
"Did she come to the house to bring away her baby?" asked Mary.
Yes; she walked about two miles off, to a part of the river where there
was a stone bridge; it was impossible to get across nearer, so she came
in about an hour.
"But did she see that puss was there?" said Willie.
O, yes; I forgot to tell you that after she had a little recovered of the

first joy of seeing her child safe, nurse held up Helen with puss in her
arms, and Robert climbed up on the stump of a tree, and held up the
cradle as high as he could.
"And then what did they do when the mother came?" said Mary.
She kissed her baby, and cried over it, and held it a long time in her
arms; and her husband, who came also, told them that the flood had
risen so suddenly that it had carried away part of the wall of their
cottage, and swept away everything they had, while he and his wife
were trying to save their stack of wood; and that when they turned
round, at the sound of the rushing water, they found that the cradle was
gone; and then they forgot every thing else, and ran with several of
their neighbors by the side of the river; but never hoped to find their
child alive.
"But it was alive, and safe, and well," said Mary, "with these kind little
girls and little Robert."
And when their uncle and aunt came home they were very kind to the
father and mother. They had their cottage built up again and furnished,
and gave them help in putting their garden in order, and there always
continued to be kind feeling between them. As to the baby, it grew up
to be a fine strong boy, and its parents named it Robert, in memory of
the little boy who had helped to save it from the water.

The Little Milk-maid.
There was once a little Milk-maid, who lived at a farm-house. Her
name was Sally. On the summer mornings she used to be up and
dressed at five o'clock. Then she took her bright milk-pail on her head,
and her three-legged stool in her hand, and called her little dog Trusty,
and tripped over the dewy grass to the stile that led to the field where
the cows fed. The wild thyme gave out a sweet scent as she walked
along; and the green leaves glistened in the sun, for the dew was still on
them; and the lark flew up high, and his song came pouring down over

her head. When she got to the stile, she saw all the four cows quite at
the other side of the field. One was called Dapple, one Brindle, one
Frisky, and one Maggie. They saw her get over the stile, but never
stirred a step towards her. Dapple