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with the white picket fence.
    Betsy wondered how she would ever be able to cross the wide street without Mr. Kilpatrick. "How did you ever get across that big wide street, Curly?" asked Betsy. Curly was busy sniffing the ground.
    When they reached the street, there was a lady with a baby carriage, waiting to cross to the other side. When she saw Betsy and the little dog, she said, "You'd better hold on to the baby carriage, little girl." So Betsy held on to the carriage, and the lady and the baby and Betsy and Curly all went safely across the street.
    "Thank you," said Betsy, as Curly tugged at the leash.
    In a few moments they reached the house where Curly lived. Betsy opened the gate and rang the doorbell. She knew how glad Curly's master would be to see his little dog. When the old gentleman opened the door, Curly jumped up on him. "Curly," cried Mr. Applebee, "where have you been? I have been looking for you all day." Then Betsy told Curly's master of how she
had found the dog. Mr. Applebee thanked Betsy over and over again as he patted Curly's head.
    "Now," said Mr. Applebee, "I will go with you and take you across the street." Betsy put the strap on her schoolbag while Mr. Applebee got his hat and cane.
    Curly followed her master to the gate. She wagged her tail hopefully. "No, indeed, Curly, you can't come," said Mr. Applebee. "You have been far enough today."
    Just as the gate closed, Betsy remembered something. She opened the little pocket on her schoolbag and took out the puppy biscuit. "Sit up, Curly," she said. Curly sat up and crossed her paws. "Speak!" said Betsy. Curly gave a sharp bark. Betsy dropped the biscuit and Curly caught it. "I wish I had a little dog just like Curly," said Betsy.
    Every morning, after Betsy found Curly, the little dog waited by the fence for her puppy biscuit.
    One morning, when Betsy reached the fence, Curly was not there.
I do hope Curly isn't lost again,
thought Betsy.
    After school, Mr. Applebee was standing by the gate. "Betsy," he said, "come in and see what Curly has."

    Betsy went into the house with Mr. Applebee. He led her back to an outside kitchen. There in a big wooden box lay Curly. Four little black puppies were nursing at her side. There were three black-and-white puppies and one coal black one.
    "Oh!" cried Betsy. "The dear little puppies!"
    Curly's master lifted them up, one by one. "Curly has four sons," said he. "Which one do you want, Betsy?"
    "To keep, for my very own?" asked Betsy.
    "Yes," said Mr. Applebee, "it is Curly's present to you for rescuing her from the pit."
    Betsy looked at the puppies very carefully. It was hard to decide. At last she said, "I would like to have the little black one because he has such a funny little worry wrinkle between his eyes."
    Mr. Applebee explained to Betsy that she would have to leave the puppy with Curly until he was big enough to live without his mother.
    Every day Betsy stopped to see her puppy, and every night she told Mother and Father about him. She could not decide what to name him.
    At last the day came when Betsy could take him home. Mother called for her after school,
and they stopped to get the puppy. Betsy held him in her arms all the way home. When they reached home, Betsy put the puppy down on the playroom floor. He ran all around, sniffing. Then he lay down and thumped his little tail very hard, "Thump! Thump! Thump!"
    "Have you thought of a name for the puppy?" asked Mother.
    Betsy looked at the puppy very lovingly. "Yes," she said, "Thumpy."

8 How Betsy Went to Pick Violets and Got into Trouble

    It was April. Betsy's father and mother had gone away on a trip. They were to be gone for a whole week. Mrs. Beckett, who had been Betsy's nurse when she was a baby, came to stay with Betsy while Father and Mother were away. Betsy loved Mrs. Beckett and thought it great fun to have her come to take care of her. They planned to have a picnic and to go to the zoo,
but when the time came it was raining. Rain! Rain!