It was very like a miserable dream, that the deed of separation was done; but, anon, the spring smiled itself into bright, glowing days; John Sharpe took to his shepherd duties again, and Jep worked in the garden and longed for he knew not what. He heard that Master Ru had tired of his pet, and that the lamb was to be washed and sheared with the flocks, and then sold. Still, it came to both children as a terrible reality, when they saw him driven down the lane, past their cottage, to the place of shearing--their Spottie, who would be so startled and terrified at rough handling. Their very hearts seemed to cry out in their yearning, as they watched from afar the poor creature's ordeal, his first shearing; and they shivered in the night, as they heard the chill wind of early summer blow, and thought of Spottie bereft of his coat. And on the morrow--ah! those to-morrows, which sadden us or bring us gladness when we least expect it--to-morrow, as they went along the shady lane, what should they espy but Master Ru's pony riderless. No--yes, riderless, for he, poor lad, was being dragged along by one foot in the stirrup, over the hard road. "Oh, my!" cried Jep, and then he held his breath and felt ready to die. Should he dash in and try to save him--he who had robbed him of Spottie, only to tire of him and cast him off? Yes, yes--all that was noble in the boy's soul cried--yes; and a low, soft voice stealing as from afar whispered--yes; so he sprang to the rescue, as the horse came up. "Margaret, could ye dare to get near and loose his foot?" said he to his scared little sister--and she dared, like the small brave woman she was. Once captured, the pony was gentle as a lamb. Jep tied him to a strong hedge-stake, and then came to his prostrate master. The poor fellow was in a sad maze of pain and half insensibility; it was not till the next day that they were sure he was not seriously hurt. And then? Well, the squire walked up to the shepherd's cottage, and made its inmates glad with the words he spoke. "I thank your children for what they did for my son, and he thanks them also. I bought their lamb and never paid for it, which I do now, and my son gives it back to them, as--as--" the proud man faltered, "as a peace-offering, if you like to call it so; and Jep may take his old place with the sheep." Oh! the joyful bringing of meek Spottie to his home again. The poor bewildered animal understood not the half of what was happening, but he gazed gratefully around at them when they covered his shorn back with Jep's jacket, thinking he must be cold. "What did the squire call him, Jep--a peace-offering?" asked wee Margaret. "Yes, that's about the word." "And what's that?" "Some'at as makes all smooth and above board, you know, when everything was wrong." "Is it like"--an awe crept into the child's eyes and voice--"like Jesus?" "Ah, like him," returned Jep, soberly. "Oh! Jep, and He's called a Lamb in the Bible."