i62 ADVENTURES AMONG BIRDS 



scarlet ornaments visible above the herbage. We 

 watched each other, and it was indeed peaceful at that 

 spot where nature and man lived in such a close com- 

 panionship, and very sweet to be there, nevertheless, 

 it did not suit me to stay in that village. Its charm 

 consisted mainly in its seclusion, in its being hidden 

 from the world in a hollow among woods and hills, and 

 I love open spaces best, wide prospects from doors and 

 windows, and the winds free to blow on me from all 

 quarters. Accordingly, I went to another village, a mile 

 and a half away, where it was more open, and settled 

 there in a cottage with working people — man and wife 

 and one child, a little boy of eleven. 



My usual good luck attended me in this place, for 

 seldom have I stayed with people I liked better. The 

 wife was intelligent enough to let me live just as I liked 

 without any fuss, so that I could get up at four o'clock 

 in the morning when they were still sleeping to make 

 tea for myself in the kitchen before going out, and 

 come in when I liked and have what I liked in the way 

 of food. The man, too, was a perfect host; his good 

 qualities and cleverness in his work had raised him to 

 a better position than that of most working-men. He 

 was actually earning about three pounds a week, but 

 prosperity had not spoiled him; he might have been 

 making no more than fifteen or eighteen shillings like 

 others of his class, in the village. His manner was 

 singularly engaging, and he was quiet and gentle in the 

 house. One might have thought that he had been 

 subdued by his wife — that she was the ruling spirit ; but 



