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The morning after their arrival the little girl asked to go out upon the lawn.

“Well,” replied Nurse Holloweg, “Sarah can take you out for half an hour. But remember you are not to run and get heated, for that will ruin your complexion; and you must not speak to any of the common children you meet, for your mother would object; and you must not get your shoes dusty nor your dress soiled, nor disobey Sarah in any way.”

Little Miss Muffet went out in a very angry and sulky mood.

“What ‘s the use of being in the country,” she thought, “if I must act just as I did in the city? I hate Nurse Holloweg, and Sarah, and all the rest of them! and if I dared I ‘d just–just run away.”

Indeed, a few minutes later, when Sarah had fallen asleep upon a bench under a big shade tree, Miss Muffet decided she would really run away for once in her life, and see how it seemed.

There was a pretty lane near by, running between shady trees far out into the country, and, stealing softly away from Sarah’s side, the little girl ran as fast as she could go, and never stopped until she was all out of breath.

While she rested and wondered what she could do next, a farmer came along, driving an empty cart.

“I ‘ll catch on behind,” said Miss Muffet, gleefully, “just as I ‘ve seen the boys do in the city. Won’t it be fun!”

So she ran and caught on the end of the cart, and actually climbed into it, falling all in a heap upon the straw that lay upon the bottom. But it did n’t hurt her at all, and the next minute the farmer whipped up his horses, and they went trotting along the lane, carrying Miss Muffet farther and farther away from hated Nurse Holloweg and the dreadful maids.

She looked around upon the green fields and the waving grain, and drew in deep breaths of the fresh country air, and was happy for almost the first time in her little life. By and by she lay back upon the straw and fell asleep; and the farmer, who did not know she was in his cart, drove on for many miles, until at last he stopped at a small wooden farmhouse, and jumped to the ground.

A woman came to the door to greet him, and he said to her.

“Well, mother, we ‘re home again, you see.”

“So I see,” she answered; “but did you bring my groceries?”

“Yes,” he replied, as he began to unharness the horses; “they are in the cart.”

So she came to the cart and looked within, and saw Miss Muffet, who was still asleep.

“Where did you get the little girl?” asked the farmer’s wife, in surprise.

“What little girl?” asked he.

“The one in the cart.”

He came to the cart and looked in, and was as surprised as his wife.

“She must have climbed into the cart when I left the town,” he said; “but waken her, wife, and we will hear what she has to say.”

So the farmer’s wife shook the girl by the arm, and Miss Muffet sat up in the cart and rubbed her eyes and wondered where she was.

“How came you in my cart?” asked the farmer.

“I caught on behind, and climbed in,” answered the girl.

“What is your name, and where do you live?” enquired the farmer’s wife.

“My name is Miss Muffet, and I live in a big city,–but where, I do not know.”

And that was all she could tell them, so the woman said at last,

“We must keep her till some one comes to claim her, and she can earn her living by helping me make the cheeses.”

“That will be nice,” said Miss Muffet, with a laugh, “for Nurse Holloweg never lets me do anything, and I should like to help somebody do something.”

So they led her into the house, where the farmer’s wife wondered at the fine texture of her dress and admired the golden chain that hung around her neck.