rry confidentially, as she drove with one of the "light gentlemen"
to the pantomime.

She had just finished an account of Bobbie's heroic sacrifice of the
day before; and as Bobbie himself was following in a hansom cab, with
the other uncle, it was quite safe to relate the whole story without
fear of interruptions.

"He wanted those guinea-pigs _dreadfully_," continued Jerry, "and he
gave everything he had to the poor little girl. He cried horribly
about it, though. He was literally _roaring_ when we got back from
Mrs. Funnel's tea, though he went and hid himself so that we shouldn't
know; but nurse said his blouse was quite _damp_!"

"Shall we go round on our way back, and order Bobbie some new
guinea-pigs, as a surprise?" asked Uncle Ronald, who had listened to
the story with all the respectful sympathy expected of him.

Jerry gave a shriek of delight. "Oh, how _lovely_! May I choose? I
know just his favourite colours."

As Bobbie took his usual stroll into the stable yard on Monday
morning, he was astonished to see Jeptha approaching him with a large
box on a wheelbarrow.

"Summut for you, Master Bobbie. Come by rail; and there seems to be a
deal of moving about and squeaking a-goin' on inside!"

Bobbie unfastened the covers with feverish haste; and there was a
hutch such as he had never even _dreamt_ of, with a row of four little
eager noses sticking out between the bars.

A label hanging to the wire said, "From the two light gentlemen."

"Well now, Master Bobbie, if ever I saw the like of that!" cried
Jeptha admiringly. "Why, they're all a-sittin' as comfortable as you
please, in a kind of a Eastern palace."

Bobbie, who was almost delirious with delight and excitement, ran in
to fetch Jerry.

"Oh, Jerry, come out!" he cried. "The light gentlemen--in a splendid
blue cage with red stripes, come by train! And such guinea-pigs! Just
the kind I wanted--two long-hair. Oh, I do think this is the
splendidest day of my life, and as long as I live I won't never forget
it!"

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Soap-Bubble Stories, by Fanny Barry

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