`` Old Bhaer will send me off , I guess . Do n't care if he does , '' muttered Dan , looking worried in spite of his words . `` We 'll ask him not to , all of us , '' said Demi , and the others assented with the exception of Stuffy , who cherished the hope that all the punishment might fall on one guilty head . Dan only said , `` Do n't bother about me ; '' but he never forgot it , even though he led the lads astray again , as soon as the temptation came . When Mr. Bhaer saw the animal , and heard the story , he said very little , evidently fearing that he should say too much in the first moments of impatience . Buttercup was made comfortable in her stall , and the boys sent to their rooms till supper-time . This brief respite gave them time to think the matter over , to wonder what the penalty would be , and to try to imagine where Dan would be sent . He whistled briskly in his room , so that no one should think he cared a bit ; but while he waited to know his fate , the longing to stay grew stronger and stronger , the more he recalled the comfort and kindness he had known here , the hardship and neglect he had felt elsewhere . He knew they tried to help him , and at the bottom of his heart he was grateful , but his rough life had made him hard and careless , suspicious and wilful . He hated restraint of any sort , and fought against it like an untamed creature , even while he knew it was kindly meant , and dimly felt that he would be the better for it . He made up his mind to be turned adrift again , to knock about the city as he had done nearly all his life ; a prospect that made him knit his black brows , and look about the cosy little room with a wistful expression that would have touched a much harder heart than Mr. Bhaer 's if he had seen it . It vanished instantly , however , when the good man came in , and said in his accustomed grave way , `` I have heard all about it , Dan , and though you have broken the rules again , I am going to give you one more trial , to please Mother Bhaer . '' Dan flushed up to his forehead at this unexpected reprieve , but he only said in his gruff way , `` I did n't know there was any rule about bull-fighting . '' `` As I never expected to have any at Plumfield , I never did make such a rule , '' answered Mr. Bhaer , smiling in spite of himself at the boy 's excuse . Then he added gravely , `` But one of the first and most important of our few laws is the law of kindness to every dumb creature on the place . I want everybody and everything to be happy here , to love and trust , and serve us , as we try to love and trust and serve them faithfully and willingly . I have often said that you were kinder to the animals than any of the other boys , and Mrs. Bhaer liked that trait in you very much , because she thought it showed a good heart . But you have disappointed us in that , and we are sorry , for we hoped to make you quite one of us . Shall we try again ? '' Dan 's eyes had been on the floor , and his hands nervously picking at the bit of wood he had been whittling as Mr. Bhaer came in , but when he heard the kind voice ask that question , he looked up quickly , and said in a more respectful tone than he had ever used before , `` Yes , please . ''
`` Very well , then , we will say no more , only you will stay at home from the walk to-morrow , as the other boys will and all of you must wait on poor XXXXX till she is well again . ''
Bhaer Buttercup Dan Demi Plumfield Stuffy bull-fighting fall first supper-time