Under the Lilacs Read Online Free PDF Page B

that they entirely forgave the theft of thecake and the new dinner pail. Inspired by these endearments and certain private signals given by Ben, Sancho suddenly burst
     away to perform all his best antics with unusual grace and dexterity.
    Bab and Betty danced about the room with rapture, while Mrs. Moss declared she was almost afraid to have such a wonderfully
     intelligent animal in the house. Praises of his dog pleased Ben more than praises of himself, and when the confusion had subsided
     he entertained his audience with a lively account of Sancho’s cleverness, fidelity, and the various adventures in which he
     had nobly borne his part.
    While he talked, Mrs. Moss was making up her mind about him, and when he came to an end of his dog’s perfections, she said,
     gravely—
    “If I can find something for you to do, would you like to stay here awhile?”
    “Oh, yes, ma’am, I’d be glad to!” answered Ben, eagerly; for the place seemed homelike already, and the good woman almost
     as motherly as the departed Mrs. Smithers.
    “Well, I’ll step over to the Squire’s tomorrow to see what he says. Shouldn’t wonder if he’d take you for a chore boy, if
     you are as smart as you say. He always has one in the summer, and I haven’t seen any round yet. Can you drive cows?”
    “Hope so”; and Ben gave a shrug, as if it was a very unnecessary question to put to a person who had driven four calico ponies
     in a gilded chariot.
    “It mayn’t be as lively as riding elephants and playing with bears, but it is respectable; and I guess you’ll be happier switching
     Brindle and Buttercup than being switched yourself,” said Mrs. Moss, shaking her head at him with a smile.
    “I guess I will, ma’am,” answered Ben, with sudden meekness, remembering the trials from which he had escaped.
    Very soon after this, he was sent off for a good night’s sleep in the back bedroom, with Sancho to watch over him. But both
     found it difficult to slumber till the racket overhead subsided; for Bab insisted on playing she was a bear and devouring
     poor Betty in spite of her wails, till their mother came up and put an end to it by threatening to send Ben and his dog away
     in the morning, if the girls “didn’t behave and be as still as mice.”
    This they solemnly promised; and they were soon dreaming of gilded cars and mouldy coaches, runaway boys and dinner pails,
     dancing dogs and twirling teacups.

Ben Gets a Place
C HAPTER 5
    W hen Ben awoke next morning, he looked about him for a moment half bewildered, because there was neither a canvas tent, a barn
     roof, nor the blue sky above him, but a neat white ceiling, where several flies buzzed sociably together, while from without
     came, not the tramping of horses, the twitter of swallows, or the chirp of early birds, but the comfortable cackle of hens
     and the sound of two little voices chanting the multiplication table.
    Sancho sat at the open window, watching the old cat wash her face, and trying to imitate her with his great ruffled paw, so
     awkwardly that Ben laughed; and Sanch, to hide his confusion at being caught, made one bound from chair to bed, and licked
     his master’s face so energeticallythat the boy dived under the bedclothes to escape from the rough tongue.
    A rap on the floor from below made both jump up, and in ten minutes a shiny-faced lad and a lively dog went racing downstairs
     — one to say, “Good mornin’, ma’am,” the other to wag his tail faster than ever tail wagged before, for ham frizzled on the
     stove, and Sancho was fond of it.
    “Did you rest well?” asked Mrs. Moss, nodding at him, fork in hand.
    “Guess I did! Never saw such a bed. I’m used to hay and a horse blanket, and lately nothin’ but sky for a cover and grass
     for my feather bed,” laughed Ben, grateful for present comforts and making light of past hardships.
    “Clean, sweet corn husks ain’t bad for young bones, even if they haven’t got more flesh on them than