It was December, and the winter was quite bad already.
The night after Patrasche and Nello had returned from town, snow fell.
It fell for many days after that.
The paths in the fields disappeared, and all the streams froze.
The sun rose late these mornings.
Nello and Patrasche's work became harder.
They woke up in the cold.
They carried the milk to the silent town in darkness.
It was hard work, especially for Patrasche.
He was older now, and his joints were stiff and his bones often ached.
But he would not give up his share of the work.
Nello would have pulled the cart himself, but Patrasche would not allow it.
Patrasche accepted only the smallest offers of help.
Sometimes, he let Nello give the cart a push if it was stuck in the ice.
"Take a rest today, Patrasche!" Nello would say in the morning.
"I can pull the cart by myself."
But Patrasche would not listen.
Every day, he would bring Nello his harness;
every day, he would walk steadily through the snow.
"One must never rest until one dies," thought Patrasche.
Sometimes, he thought that the end of his days was not far off.
His sight was growing dim, and his bones hurt when he got up in the morning.
"Poor Patrasche, we shall soon lie quiet together, you and I," said Jehan one night.
He stroked Patrasche's head with his old hand, and Patrasche licked his cheek with love.
But both of them wondered, "When we are gone, who will care for Nello?"
One December afternoon, Patrasche and Nello were walking back from Antwerp.
The snow had become as hard as rock over the roads and fields.
On the road, they found a pretty little puppet.
The puppet was beautiful.
Its costume was made of red and gold silk, and its face was made from wood.
Even though it lay on the road, it was clean and wasn't broken.
Nello picked it up, thinking to find its owner.
He stopped people passing by, but no one knew who the puppet belonged to.
It was a busy road.
Many merchants and farmers traveled it, and the puppet could have been lost by anyone.
After several hours of stopping and asking people, Nello had no success.
So he decided to give the puppet to Alois.
He knew that she loved playing with puppets and dolls.
Alois' father would not allow Nello to visit their house, but Nello had an idea.
He would pass the puppet to her through her window.
He would do it at night when nobody would see.
He crept quietly up to the miller's house, looking carefully around.
The light was on in Alois' room, and he tapped quietly on the glass.
Alois opened the window and looked out, a little frightened.
Nello put the puppet into her hands.
"Here is a doll I found in the snow, Alois.
Take it," he whispered.
"I must go before anyone sees.
Good-bye!" said Nello.
Before Alois had time to thank him, he ran off.
But the miller, who had heard a noise outside, opened the front door and saw Nello hurrying away in the dark.