hansom, they want to drive like the wind. But for a four-wheeler that
takes families and their luggage, he's the very horse. I bought him
cheap and I'll sell him cheap."

"Oh, I don't want him," said Diamond's father.

"Well, come and see him anyway," said his friend. So he went.

What was his delight on going into the stable to find that the horse was
no other than his own old Diamond! Diamond, grown very thin and bony and
long-legged. The horse hearing his master's voice, turned his long
neck. And when his old friend went up to him and laid his hand on his
side, he whinnied for joy and laid his big head on his master's breast.
This settled the matter. Diamond's father put his arms around old
Diamond's neck and fairly cried.

The end of it was that Diamond's father bought old Diamond again,
together with a four-wheeled cab. As there were some rooms to be had
over the stable, he took them, wrote to his wife to come home, and set
up as a cabman.

It was late in the afternoon when Diamond and his mother and the baby
reached London. His father was waiting for them with his own cab but
they had not told Diamond who the horse was. For his father wanted to
enjoy the pleasure of his surprise when he found it out. He got in with
his mother without looking at the horse and was quite proud of riding
home in his father's cab.

When he got to the stables where their rooms were he could not help
being a little dismayed at first. But he thought of the song of the
river at the back of the north wind and just looked about for things
that were pleasant. He said to himself that it was a fine thing that all
their old furniture was there. Then he began to search out the
advantages of the place.

A thick, dull rain was falling and that was depressing. But the weather
would change and there was a good fire burning in the room, which a
neighbor had made for them. The tea things were put out and the kettle
was boiling on the fire. And with a good fire and tea and bread and
butter, things cannot be so _very_ bad.

But Diamond's father and mother were rather miserable and Diamond began
to feel a kind of darkness spreading over him. At the same moment, he
said, "This will never do! I can't give in to this. I've been at the
back of the north wind. Things go right there and they must be made to
go right here!"

So he said out loud, "What nice bread and butter this is!" And when he
had eaten it, he began to amuse the baby who was soon shr