, and that was as much as we ever knew, for he talked little,
and not at all of the past. His face value was certainly not much, and
some of his habits could have been improved, but a more faithful and
honest soul than William Deegan never lived.

III

_"Ah, the bonny cow!"_

We had acquired Mis' Cow a few weeks before William's arrival. It was
partly on account of the milk that we wanted her, partly because there
was an empty stall next to Old Beek's and we thought she would be
company for him, partly because we wanted a cow in the landscape--a
moving picture of her in the green pasture across the road--finally (and
I believe principally) because we have a mania for restoring things and
Mis' Cow looked as if she needed to be restored.

She was owned by a man who was moving away--moving because he had not
made a success of chicken-farming by book, and still less of Mis' Cow.
He was not her first owner, nor her second, nor her third. I don't know
what his number was on her list of owners, but I know if he had kept her
much longer he would have been her last one. More than once we had
bought the mere frame of a haircloth couch, and taken an esthetic
pleasure in having it polished and upholstered, and made into a thing of
beauty and service. It was with this view that we acquired Mis Cow, who
at the moment was a mere frame with a patchy Holstein covering and a
feebly hanging tail. We gave thirty-five dollars for her, and the man
who was moving because he had not made a success of chickens threw in a
single buggy that broke down the week after he left.

We consulted Westbury on the matter of Mis' Cow's past history, and it
was the only time I ever knew W. C. Westbury to be inexact as to the
age and habits of any animal in Brook Ridge. He said he had always known
her as a good milker, but that she had been unfortunate of late years in
her owners. He couldn't remember her age, but he didn't think it was
enough to hurt her. My opinion is that he could have given her exact
birthday and record had he really tried, but that kindness of heart
prompted him to encourage a trade that might improve her fortunes. I
suspect that they had played together in childhood.

We managed to get Mis' Cow up the hill and into her stall, where we
could provide her with upholstery material. The little pasture across
the road was getting green and she presently had the full run of it. The
restoring progress began, as it were, overnight. If ev