The woman told Dick that all her
own washing was done in the stream, so Dick went out to wash his face
in it; but the mist still hung thick over the moor, the air was sharp
and cold and the water colder still; so that both he and Elsie were
satisfied with very little washing. When they went back, they found
that the old woman had set the two stools close to the fire for them
and was making the porridge; so they breakfasted off porridge and
trout, as they had supped on them the day before; and then the old
woman gave Dick his own jacket and asked him to take off the yellow
one. Dick was a little reluctant to part with it, and asked what it
was and where it came from; but she only answered that it was a long
story. He followed it with his eyes to see the last of it as she
folded it up and put it away, and she smiled rather sadly as she saw
him. "I can't a let you have it yet, my dear," she said, guessing his
thoughts, "and maybe when I can spare it for 'ee you won't care for to
take it. But if ever it goes from me it shall go to you, that I
promise 'ee, if so be as I can get it to 'ee."
Then they ran out to see the idiot saddle the ponies, with which he was
already as friendly as if he had known them all his life. All animals
seemed to take to him, for he had pets without end. The two
nanny-goats and the little hind followed him like dogs; the squirrel
was always in his pocket or on his shoulder; and a jackdaw and a
magpie, both of them pinioned, fluttered after him wherever he went,
chattering and scolding as though the place belonged to them.
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