But nobody knew how to milk the cows; and, although Tom and Georgie Tearcoat tried with all their might, they could not manage to get a drop of milk from one of them, and no one else even tried. But, just as the children were all wondering what they should do, little Peter Phinn, who had been listening and looking, with his hands in the pockets of his ragged trousers, and a broad grin on his freckled face, said slowly,-- "I know how to milk." "You do! Why didn't you say so, Peter Phinn?" cried all the children angrily. "Oh! I didn't know as you'd want me and Merry amongst you," said Peter. "Why not? Of course we do," said Patty Pettitoes, who was a very good-natured little girl. "Because Finnikin Fine told Merry once she wasn't fit to play with her, when her clothes was so poor," said Peter. "Did Finnikin say that?" asked Patty. "Yes, she did, sure; and she called her a little Paddy, and said, if she wore such an old, mean gown and bonnet, she'd ought to keep out of the way of folks that dressed nicer, as she did." Then all the children turned and looked at Finnikin Fine, and said,-- "Oh, shame, Finnikin! for shame to talk so to good little Merry Phinn!" Then Finnikin hung down her head, and blushed very much, and began to cry; but Merry Phinn went close to her, and whispered,-- "Never mind them, honey. I'll forget it sooner than you will, and I'll come and help you dress the children tomorrow morning." "And I'll give you my new pink muslin, and my white beads, and my bronze slippers with pink rosettes, and, and," began Finnikin; but Merry put her little brown hand over her mouth, and said, laughing,-- "And, if I get all these fine things, I'd be as bad as yourself, Finny darling. No: I'll wear my calico gown, and my sun-bonnet, and my strong shoes; and you'll see I can get to my work or my play without half the bother you'd make in your finery." So Finnikin, still blushing, and crying a little, put her arm round Merry's neck, and kissed her; and then she ran and took off the rinses and pins and ribbons and flowers she had found time since breakfast to put on, and changed her blue silk dress for a neat gingham and a white apron, and put her hair into a net, instead of the wreath and curls it had cost her so much trouble to arrange. And, when she came down stairs again, all the children cried,-- "Only see how pretty Finnikin Fine is in her plain dress! She looks like a little girl now, instead of a wax doll in a toy-shop window." "Yes," said Tom Tearcoat; "and a fellow could play with her now in some comfort. It used to be,-- "'Dear me, you rude boy! you've gone and torn my flounce!' or, 'You've spoilt my bow!' or, 'Dear me, you troublesome creature! you've made me so nervous!'"