spirit along a familiar floor. Henceforth the spotty horse would

scour along far-distant plains and know the homesickness of alien
stables; but Potiphar, though never again would he paw the arena

when bull-fights were on the bill, was spared maltreatment by
town-bred strangers, quite capable of mistaking him for a cow.

Jerry and Esmeralda might shed their limbs and their stuffing, by
slow or swift degrees, in uttermost parts and unguessed corners

of the globe; but Rosa's book was finally closed, and no worse
fate awaited her than natural dissolution almost within touch and

hail of familiar faces and objects that had been friendly to her
since first she opened her eyes on a world where she had never

been treated as a stranger.
As we turned to go, the man in the moon, tangled in elm-boughs,

caught my eye for a moment, and I thought that never had he
looked so friendly. He was going to see after them, it was

evident; for he was always there, more or less, and it was no
trouble to him at all, and he would tell them how things were

still going, up here, and throw in a story or two of his own
whenever they seemed a trifle dull. It made the going away

rather easier, to know one had left somebody behind on the spot;
a good fellow, too, cheery, comforting, with a fund of anecdote;

a man in whom one had every confidence.
End

• henceforth [´hens´fɔ:θ] ad.今后；从今以后 (初中英语单词)
• capable [´keipəbəl] a.有能力；能干的 (初中英语单词)
• trifle [´traifəl] n.琐事，小事；少量 (初中英语单词)
• dissolution [,disə´lu:ʃən] n.溶解；取消；解除 (英语四级单词)
• cheery [´tʃiəri] a.愉快的；活泼的 (英语四级单词)
• uttermost [´ʌtəməust] a.&n.=utmost (英语六级单词)