"That's one of those poachers: he's knocked down a pheasant, I'll be bound!" said the gamekeeper's daughter to herself. "I'll just be after him!" and, gathering her skirts close around her, she crept through into a thick plantation. She had the intrepid fearlessness of her father, whose companion on his rounds she had been, when no danger was thought to be afoot, ever since she was old enough to ride pickaback. It came quite natural to her to help him, and though the old grandmother grumbled at her boyish ways she said nothing, for the child was obedient enough, and could read and write and sew; and, moreover, her son would brook no interference with his treasure--especially since her mother had died. "Drop that!" cried Nancy. "Who's there?" Hearing only a girl's voice, a rough-looking fellow emerged grinning from behind a tree, with the dead bird he had just picked up in his hand. A limp bag was slung over his shoulder, a stout staff was in his other hand, and a snarling "lurcher" dog slunk at his feet. "Steady, Muffins!" said the man, giving the cowering animal a gentle kick as a reminder. "Now, Missy, what can I do for you?" [Illustration: "_You can just hand over that pheasant_"] "You can just hand me over that pheasant. Ah! it's you, is it? I know you, Tom Grollins, and I'll report you to the gamekeeper." The poacher gazed at her stupidly for a moment. "Give you the blessed bird and be reported too, Missy? Come, that ain't 'ardly fair, is it? (_Will_ yer lie down, Muffins?) Now look 'ere. If I give yer the bird, will y'promise not to say a word as it was Tom Grollins--on yer davey, now? Will y'promise, Missy?" She nodded. Tom Grollins was not very strong of intellect, and he was a known coward, and as the sound of a carriage was heard close by, the bargain was hastily concluded; the pheasant was handed over without further parley on the undertaking of the promise--"No names." The promise, of course, Nancy faithfully kept when she delivered to her father the bird she had demanded with such pluck and authority, and told him how she had got it. The gamekeeper laughed, remarking that he wouldn't press her, but could make a pretty shrewd guess if he chose. However, she was worth her weight in gold, he said, and he patted her on the head for a trump--and Nancy felt uncommonly proud. But she didn't quite understand what he meant when he said that terms such as she had made would not be quite approved of by the Lord Chancellor. Then as Granny came in Nancy told of all she had seen, and of all the wonderful presents the tiny lady at the Grange was going to receive at Christmas, because she wanted them; and that a gentleman staying at the house called Mr. Santa Claus gave them, and knew what to get, because a bird--a parrot, she supposed--had heard and told him what the little lady wanted.