Dick wriggled and wagged his tail in joyful assent, and barked loudly, to show how much he appreciated the arrangement.

Mrs. Perry came to the door, looking down the garden, to see if they were there.  “Huldah,” she called, “Huldah!  I want you to go into the village to get some tea; we have run out, and we want some sugar, too.”

Huldah turned and ran quickly into the house.  She was quite ready to go, but in her heart of hearts she always shrank a little from going into the village; the people stared at her so, and asked all manner of questions, which she found it difficult to answer.

A little girl and a dog cannot arrive in a village as though they had dropped out of the sky, without, of course, people wanting to know who they are, and where they come from, and why they came, and with whom they lived before, and with whom they are staying now, and how long they are going to stay.

Mrs. Perry had adopted Huldah as her niece, but a number of people in the village did not really believe she was so, and, having very little to do or think about, they were anxious to find out, and Huldah, when she did go amongst them, found it very trying.

Dick did not find it trying, though, he loved a walk, no matter in what direction it lay, and questions and curiosity did not trouble him at all.  He looked wistfully from Huldah to Mrs. Perry, begging with his eyes that he might be allowed to go too.

“Yes, take him,” said Mrs. Perry; “it is only three o’clock, and you’ll be back by four.  I don’t mind being alone in broad daylight like this.”  So Huldah, not a little pleased with her appearance in her pretty blue frock and new hat, started off, basket in hand, and Dick, very proud and pleased, trotted off beside her.

It was not until she drew near the village that she began to wonder what the people would think of the change in her appearance, and a great shyness seized her, and reluctance to go on and meet their looks of surprise, and their open remarks.  The feeling grew and grew with every step she took, until she had begun to wonder if she could ever bring herself to face them, when suddenly her mind was lifted off her fears by the extraordinary behaviour of Dick.

Growling savagely, his hair rising stiffly along his back, he was walking more and more slowly, and drawing in closer and closer to Huldah, as his habit was when he felt he must protect her.

“Why, Dick,” she cried, puzzled and half-alarmed, “what is it old man? whatever is the matter?” Then, her eyes following the direction of his, she saw, standing by a gate deep-set in the hedge, two young men.  To her they seemed harmless enough, just two ordinary-looking strangers, and if it had not been for Dick’s behaviour, she would have passed them by without a thought.  But evidently they were not harmless in Dick’s eyes, for his growls and snarls grew louder and more forbidding the nearer he approached.