Fayette gave her one more angry glance, leaped from his saddle with a jerk, and bestowed upon the unoffending burro a vicious kick. Then he disappeared down the street, and Amy tied Pepita in haste, that she might look after the other animal also. Just then she heard a step upon the path behind her, and the superintendent's pleasant voice, saying:-- "Well, young lady, you are certainly prompt, and promptness is a cardinal virtue--from a business man's point of view. See, here is the little girl for whom you are giving up your pet." "Ah, indeed." Amy smiled upon the child, who might have been ten years of age, and the fragile little creature appeared to smile in return. Then it came over the visitor that there was something out of common in that uplifted, happy face, and that the smile was not in response to her own greeting. The wide blue eyes looked upward, truly, but with the blank stare of one who sees nothing. "Ah, is it so?" cried Amy, a second time, watching with what hesitation the little girl moved along the path, and how persistently she clung to her father's hand. "Yes, blind; quite blind--from her birth," said Mr. Metcalf, sadly. Amy was on her knees in a moment, clasping the child's slight body in her arms and saying:-- "Then I'm glad, glad that you are to have Pepita. She is the dearest, nicest burro--except when she's bad--and will carry you wherever you want to go,--that is, if she is willing. You dear little girl, she shall be yours, without that money either. I never knew about you before, or you should have had her before, too." [Illustration: "'THEN I'M GLAD, GLAD THAT YOU ARE TO HAVE PEPITA.'"] Mr. Metcalf smiled, well pleased. His blind daughter was the idol of his flock, and anybody who was attracted by her became interesting to him. Amy had been so, even before this incident, but he liked her heartily now. "So, Miss Amy, though you hated to part with your burro for money, you would do so willingly for love and sympathy?" "Why, of course. If I'd only known--" "You will not make a good business woman, at this rate. But this wind is sharp. I mustn't keep Nanette out here long, else her mother will worry, and that wouldn't do. Suppose, since you know more about donkeys than I do, that you give my girl her first riding lesson. Reach Miss Amy your hand, dear heart." Amy caught the little white-mittened fingers in her own and kissed them impulsively. Then she rose and placed the child on Pepita's saddle. "Take hold of the bridle, so, in both hands, now, till you learn how. I'll keep my arm about you. No, dear, you cannot fall. I wouldn't let you, even if Pepita would, and she's in a gentle mood to-day. Aren't you, Pepit'?"