I am a member of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and I hope that I am as tender-hearted as most women; nevertheless, I can understand how a man of weak principle and violent temper, or a man possessed of a desire to get to a particular spot not favoured by Jane, or by a wish to reach any spot by a certain hour,--I can understand how such a man, carried away by helpless wrath, might possibly ruffle Jane's sad-coloured hair with the toe of his boot. Jane is small, yet mighty. She is multum in parvo; she is the rock of Gibraltar in animate form; she is cosmic obstinacy on four legs. When following out the devices and desires of her own heart, or resisting the devices and desires of yours, she can put a pressure of five hundred tons on the bit. She is further fortified by the possession of legs which have iron rods concealed in them, these iron rods terminating in stout grip-hooks, with which she takes hold on mother earth with an expression that seems to say,-- 'This rock shall fly From its firm base as soon as I.' When I start out in the afternoon, Mrs. Bobby frequently asks me where I am going. I always answer that I have not made up my mind, though what I really mean to say is that Jane has not made up her mind. She never makes up her mind until after I have made up mine, lest by some unhappy accident she might choose the very excursion that I desire myself. Chapter XXI. I remember, I remember. For example, I wish to visit St. Bridget's Well, concerning which there are some quaint old verses in a village history:-- 'Out of thy famous hille, There daylie springyeth, A water passynge stille, That alwayes bringyeth Grete comfort to all them That are diseased men, And makes them well again To prayse the Lord. 'Hast thou a wound to heale, The wyche doth greve thee; Come thenn unto this welle; It will relieve thee; Nolie me tangeries, And other maladies, Have there theyr remedies, Prays'd be the Lord.'