"We might call him 'Ugly Joe' then," said a lad with a round, fat
face, and laughing eyes. I wondered very much who this boy was,
and, later on, I found out that he was another of Miss Laura's
brothers, and his name was Ned. There seemed to be no end to the
Morris boys.

"I don't think Laura would like that," said Jack Morris, suddenly
coming up behind him. He was very hot, and was breathing fast,
but his manner was as cool as if he had never left the group about
me. He had beaten Tom, who was sitting on a box, ruefully
surveying a hole in his jacket. "You see," he went on, gaspingly, "if
you call him 'Ugly Joe,' her ladyship will say that you are
wounding the dear dog's feelings. 'Beautiful Joe,' would be more to
her liking."

A shout went up from the boys. I didn't wonder that they laughed.
Plain-looking I naturally was; but I must have been hideous in
those bandages.

"'Beautiful Joe,' then let it be!" they cried, "Let us go and tell
mother, and ask her to give us something for our beauty to eat."

They all trooped out of the stable, and I was very sorry, for when
they were with me, I did not mind so much the tingling in my ears,
and the terrible pain in my back. They soon brought me some nice
food, but I could not touch it, so they went away to their play, and I
lay in the box they put me in, trembling with pain, and wishing
that the pretty young lady was there, to stroke me with her gentle
fingers.