THE DOCTOR'S WONDEB ROOM 11 



are here, with pockets full of questions ; " and Olive 

 opened the door of the study, which Dodo named 

 " the wonder room " that very day. 



It was a very long room on the southwest side of the 

 house. The sun streamed in through three Avide win- 

 dows, and at one end there was a deep fireplace with 

 brass andirons upon which some logs smouldered, for 

 though it was a mild ]\Iay day the great room felt cool. 

 Around the room were deep cases with glass doors, 

 from which peeped all kinds and sizes of birds, while 

 between the tops of the cases and the ceiling the spaces 

 were filled by colored bird pictures. The Doctor's desk 

 stood in front of one window, heaped with papers and 

 books; down the middle of the room were low book- 

 cases standing back to back, and where these ended, 

 before the hearth, was a high-backed settle, almost as 

 long as a bed. 



The children stood still for a minute, speechless with 

 surprise and delight. Then Dodo made a rush for the 

 Doctor's chair, and hugging him round the neck, cried, 

 " Dear Uncle Roy, will you please let us stay in here 

 a little while, so that we can learn what sort of animals 

 birds are, and all about them ? And will 3'ou tell Nat 

 why you let yourself shoot birds when you won't let 

 him ? " Here Dodo stopped, both for lack of breath 

 and because she knew that her sentences were mixing 

 themselves dreadfully. 



" So you have been here two whole days without 

 finding me out," said the Doctor, seating Dodo com- 

 fortably on his knee. " Aren't you afraid of the old 

 ogre who keeps so many birds prisoners in his den, 

 and bewitches them so that they sit quite still and 



