The Little Dog Trusty Part 4

"Aye," said another; "and he finds that we who are good-humoured and good-natured to one another, do better even than he who is so quick and so clever."

"But if, besides being so quick and so clever, he was good-humoured and good-natured," said Marianne, "he would be of great use to us; he plaits a vast deal faster than Mary does, and Mary plaits faster than any of us--Come, let us try him, let him come in amongst us."

"No, No, No," cried many voices; "he will quarrel with us; and we have no time for quarrelling--We are all so quiet and happy without him!--Let him work by himself, as he said he would."

Owen went on, working by himself; he made all the haste that he possibly could; but Thursday came, and his work was not nearly finished--His companions pa.s.sed by him with their finished work in their hands--Each, as they pa.s.sed, said, "What, have not you done yet, Owen?"

and then they walked on to the table where their Dame was sitting ready to pay them their sixpences.

She measured their work, and examined it; and when she saw that it was well done, she gave to each of her little workmen and workwomen the sixpence which they had earned, and she said, "I hope, my dears, that you will be happy this evening."

They all looked joyful; and as they held their sixpences in their hands they said, "If we had not helped one another, we should not have earned this money; and we should not be able to go to the cherry-orchard."

"Poor Owen!" whispered Marianne to her companions, "look how melancholy he is, sitting there alone at his work!--See! his hands tremble, so that he can scarcely hold the straws; he will not have nearly finished his work in time, he cannot go with us."

"He should not have trampled upon our cherries; and then perhaps we might have helped him," said Cymon.

"Let us help him, though he did trample on our cherries," said the good-natured Marianne,--"He is sorry for what he did, and he will never be so ill-humoured or ill-natured again--Come, let us go and help him--If we all help, we shall have his work finished in time, and then we shall all be happy together."

As Marianne spoke, she drew Cymon near to the corner where Owen was sitting; and all her companions followed.

"Before we offer to help him, let us try whether he is now inclined to be good-humoured, and good-natured."

"Yes, yes, let us try that first," said his companions.

"Owen, you will not have done time enough to go with us,"--said Cymon.

"No, indeed," said Owen, "I shall not; therefore I may as well give up all thoughts of it--It is my own fault, I know."

"Well, but as you cannot go yourself, you will not want your pretty little basket; will you lend it to us to hold our cherries?"

"Yes, I will with pleasure," cried Owen, jumping up to fetch it:

"Now he is good-natured, I am sure," said Marianne.

"This plaiting of yours is not nearly so well done as ours," said Cymon, "look how uneven it is."

"Yes, it is rather uneven, indeed," replied Owen.

Cymon began to untwist some of Owen's work; and Owen bore this trial of his patience with good temper.

"Oh, you are pulling it all to pieces, Cymon," said Marianne; "this is not fair."

"Yes, it is fair," said Cymon; "for I have undone only an inch; and I will do as many inches for Owen as he pleases, now that I see he is good-humoured."

Marianne immediately sat down to work for Owen; and Cymon and all his companions followed her example--It was now two hours before the time when the cherry-orchard was to be opened; and during these two hours, they went on so expeditiously, that they completed the work.

Owen went with them to the cherry-orchard, where they spent the evening all together very happily--As he was sitting under a tree with his companions eating the ripe cherries, he said to them,--"Thank you all, for helping me; I should not have been here now eating these ripe cherries, if you had not been so good-natured to me--I hope I shall never be cross to any of you again, whenever I feel inclined to be cross, I will think of your good-nature to me, and of THE CHERRY-ORCHARD."