, and loved him more and more. So the
days went on, until a certain morning dawned.

The sun rose as usual; the cocks crowed as cheerfully as they always
did. Solomon and Isaac had gone to drive the cows to pasture, as was
their wont. Elias and John were peacefully skinning their woodchucks in
the shed. Philemon had been sent back to his chamber (as he was every
morning of his life) to brush his back hair. There was nothing to
suggest the storm which was to break over Romeo Augustus, who stood by
the kitchen stove watching the cook fry fritters.

"Fizz, fiz-z-z, fiz-z-z," hissed the fritters.

"_Aren't_ they going to be good!" said Romeo Augustus, smacking his
lips.

Suddenly came a voice. It was Romeo Augustus's father speaking to the
man-servant:

"Those little pigs are large enough to be killed. How many are there?
Never mind. Carry them all to market to-morrow, and sell them for what
they will bring. I don't want the trouble of raising them."

Romeo Augustus listened in horror. "Large enough to be killed?" "Carry
them all to market?" "_All?_ ALL?" Why, that included Mephibosheth.
Terrible thought!

Not a fritter did Romeo Augustus eat that morning. After breakfast he
roamed aimlessly about the farm. He would not go near the barn. How
could he look upon poor doomed Mephibosheth?

Once he thought of going to his father, and pleading with him for his
pig's life. But Romeo Augustus was shy, and somewhat afraid of his
father, who was a stern man. So he kept his grief to himself, and
meditated.

Elias unconsciously deserted him at this time of need, and curdled Romeo
Augustus's blood by asking twice for pork at dinner. Ask for pork? Why,
speaking coarsely, Mephibosheth was also--_pork_. How could any one eat
pork with such a relish? Romeo Augustus shivered, and kept his own
counsel. All that afternoon he pondered. Then the darkness of night came
on.

The next morning off started the man-servant with his load of little
pigs.

"Have you all?" asked Romeo Augustus's father.

"I would ha' swore, sir, there was thirteen, but it seems there was only
twilve. Yes, sir, I has 'em all;" and away he drove.

As for Romeo Augustus, a change came over him. Far from shunning the
barn, he hung about it constantly. Moreover, he was always present when
the cows were milked, morning and night. He had a playful trick of
dipping his own tin cup into the foaming pail, and scampering away with
it full to the brim. Nobody objec