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did how he could best be of service to her.
"Canter for home!" commanded the boy, and Maria scrambled into the saddle and they were off, the
boy running on one side of her with the hare in his arms and Wiggins running on the other. Wrolf
stayed behind.
Within sight of the manor Periwinkle stopped cantering and slipped into a gentle ambling trot, for
the danger, it seemed, was left behind now. Maria had got her breath back and her wits about her
again and was gazing wonderingly and joyfully at the boy beside her, and he was looking back at
her and laughing. He was just the same, just as he had been in her dream the night before. He had
not changed at all since those days when he had come to play with her in the Square garden; except
that he had grown, even as she had, so that he was still a head taller than she was. His dark eyes still
sparkled with fun when he looked at her. His thick chestnut hair still curled tightly all over his head,
with the final curl making a comic twist in the back of his neck, like a drake's tail. His rough brown
coat was still the color of fallen beech leaves, and the battered old hat that he swung in one hand
still flaunted the long green feather.
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"Robin!" she cried reproachfully. "Why did you leave off coming to the Square garden?"
"We were getting too old for those children's games," he said. "Soon you would have been bored
with them, and as soon as you had begun to be bored you wouldn't have believed in me any more.
People only believe when they are interested. It was better to go away before you began to be bored.
I knew you'd come to Moonacre. I knew I'd see you
again. You won't be bored by what we have to do together here. My word, you won't! You'll be
frightened, but you won't be bored."
"What are we going to do here?" demanded Maria.
"You'll soon know," said Robin.
Maria choked down her curiosity, for Robin had always hated being asked questions, and if she
asked too many would just disappear, and she did not want him to disappear just yet.
They went together to the stableyard, sat on the parapet of the well and attended to the hare. It was
frightened no longer, but nestled up to Robin with complete confidence.
He bathed its hurt leg with water from the well and bandaged it with Maria's handkerchief torn into
strips. And he did it all so skillfully that the hare did not seem to feel any pain.
"There!" he said when he had finished, and put the creature into Maria's arms. "There you are. She's
your hare."
"Hare!" exclaimed Maria. "Why, I thought she was an extra large rabbit!"
Robin laughed.
"Rabbits are all right," he said. "Rabbits are jolly little beggars, and they're fun to keep as pets.
Rut a hare, now, is a different thing altogether. A hare is not a pet but a person. Hares are clever and
brave and loving, and they have fairy blood in them. It's a grand thing to have a hare for a friend.
One doesn't often because they have a lot of dignity and keep themselves to themselves; not like
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rabbits, who are always underfoot; but if you do win the love of a hare--well--it's a fine thing for
you. And you've done it."
Maria looked down at the beautiful creature lying in her lap, still and tranquil, and very tenderly she
stroked the long silky ears. Now that she looked at her hare attentively she saw that it was almost an
insult to compare it with a rabbit. She was of a far more substantial build and had a regal air. Her
fur was silver-grey, soft and fine, and her ears were so large that they were more like banners than
ears, but though large they were beautiful and graceful, and lined with superfine pink velvet. Her
tail was not an absurd little white bobble of a thing, like a rabbit's, but an exquisite fountain of white
fur that drew attention to the strength and grandeur of her finely shaped hind legs. Her front legs
were fine legs too but lacked the poise of the hind ones. Her eyes were large and dark and lustrous,
and her silver whiskers twice the length of Wig gins's. Wiggins eyed the hare with profound
disfavor.
She was slightly larger than he was and her beauty constituted a challenge to his own that he was
not disposed to take lightly. He sat down abruptly and, with his back to the hare, scratched himself.
The action was a studied insult but she seemed not to mind. She was obviously a hare of a serene
disposition.
"I shall call her Serena," said Maria. "Do you know, Robin, I loved Serena on sight, and when I saw
her in the
trap I was so angry at the way she had been treated that I wasn't afraid any more."
There was no answer, and looking up she saw that Robin had disappeared, even though as far as she
knew she had not asked a single question. But though annoyed she was not upset, because she knew
he would come back again. They had that job of work to do together. She handed Periwinkle over to [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]