1. but when she came to the back door at which she had come out, mercy found a great trouble. she lifted the latch, but the door did not open.

2. she gave a pull, a second pull, and then a tug with all her might; but it still held fast. "why," she thought, "i am as badly off as the donkey. i shall have to go into the pigsty with him!"

3. she had been out much longer than she thought. and while she had been taking care of brownie her father had turned the big key in the door and gone to bed.

4. what was to be done? it would[pg 63] never do to wake up poor tired father, and bring him out in the cold too. so she stood there trying to puzzle out some plan for getting in.

5. the bright moonlight showed her a way to do it. the cottage was a low one, and just under the window of the room where she and nelly slept, was a bench.

6. standing on tiptoe upon this, mercy found that she could reach the branches of an old vine tree, which grew over the walls of the little house.

7. she could climb up into this, and so get near the bedroom window. it was easy enough to scramble up in summer time, but not so easy now.

8. the boughs were a sheet of ice, and her fingers so cold that they could hardly take hold of them. at last, after many slips and frights, she was safely up.

9. but what would little nelly think of seeing her sister outside the window, asking to be let in, as their pussy cat often did?

10. she was sound asleep too, and had to be wakened by many hard taps at the[pg 64] glass. first, nelly felt fear at seeing a face looking in at her.

11. but she soon knew who it was. "oh mercy," cried nelly, "how long you have been! what have you been at? and why did you come back this way?"

12. "get into bed again, there's a dear," said mercy, "and i will tell you all about it." nelly kept awake to listen, as mercy told her the story.

13. and she could not help clapping her hands to think of how snug poor old brownie was now. mercy knelt down to say her prayers before she got into bed.

14. she felt very thankful that she had been able to do one kindness to a creature like that ass which once stood in the stall beside the "new-born king."

15. next morning, as soon as the house was tidy, mercy ran out to see the donkey. more snow had fallen in the night, and had filled up all her footmarks, so that she might have thought it all a dream.

16. but just as she reached the pigsty she heard a loud bray, which was brownie's[pg 65] way of saying "a merry christmas" to his friends.

17. "you did quite right, my child," said her father, when mercy told him of her work the last night. "i think that smith does not treat him well.

18. "and i will tell you what, children, i am going to-morrow to see mr. smith and buy our brownie back again. i cannot get on without him, i find.

19. "now that your mother is well again we shall do better, and last week i put by the money for brownie. so you need never say good-bye to him again."

20. you may be sure that there was a happy christmas at the cottage for peter and his wife, and for the children, as well as for poor brownie.

21. "how very glad i am that i went out to him that night!" said mercy to her father. "it was not much to do, only it was christmas eve, and i thought—"

22. "you thought what?" said her father.

"only," she said, in a low voice, "i could not forget that christ let the ox and[pg 66] the ass be with him in the stable. and i thought that he would not be pleased if we left poor brownie out in the cold."

write: mercy was forced to get in at the window. she got up by the vine tree. her little sister let her in. peter said he should buy the donkey back.

questions: 1. what trouble did mercy find at her door? 2. how did she get up to the window? 3. what was nelly doing? 4. what did peter say when his child told him what she had done for the donkey? 5. what did he say about mr. smith? 6. what did he mean to do for brownie?