had been watching her--a sheep that
puzzled the shepherd; for every now and then she would appear in his
flock, and he would catch sight of her two or three times in a day,
sometimes for days together, yet he never saw her when he looked for
her, and never when he counted the flock into the fold at night. He
knew she was not one of his; but where could she come from, and where
could she go to? For there was no other flock within many miles, and he
never could get near enough to her to see whether or not she was
marked. Nor was Prince of the least use to him for the unravelling of
the mystery; for although, as often as he told him to fetch the strange
sheep, he went bounding to her at once, it was only to lie down at her
feet.

At length, however, the wise woman had made up her mind, and after that
the strange sheep no longer troubled the shepherd.

As Rosamond improved, the shepherdess grew kinder. She gave her all
Agnes's clothes, and began to treat her much more like a daughter.
Hence she had a great deal of liberty after the little work required of
her was over, and would often spend hours at a time with the shepherd,
watching the sheep and the dogs, and learning a little from seeing how
Prince, and the others as well, managed their charge--how they never
touched the sheep that did as they were told and turned when they were
bid, but jumped on a disobedient flock, and ran along their backs,
biting, and barking, and half choking themselves with mouthfuls of
their wool.

Then also she would play with the brooks, and learn their songs, and
build bridges over them. And sometimes she would be seized with such
delight of heart that she would spread out her arms to the wind, and go
rushing up the hill till her breath left her, when she would tumble
down in the heather, and lie there till it came back again.

A noticeable change had by this time passed also on her countenance.
Her coarse shapeless mouth had begun to show a glimmer of lines and
curves about it, and the fat had not returned with the roses to her
cheeks, so that her eyes looked larger than before; while, more
noteworthy still, the bridge of her nose had grown higher, so that it
was less of the impudent, insignificant thing inherited from a certain
great-great-great-grandmother, who had little else to leave her. For a
long time, it had fitted her very well, for it was just like her; but
now there was ground for alteration, and already the granny who gave it