The Mason-be^ 



where he captured her. The Bee got away 

 from him in this closet and flew out through 

 the window. Duhamel made straight for the 

 nest. The mason arrived almost as soon as 

 he did and renewed her work. She only 

 seemed a little wilder, says the narrator, in 

 conclusion. 



Why were you not here with me, revered 

 master, on the banks of the Aygues, which 

 for three-fourths of the year is a vast expanse 

 of pebbles and a mighty torrent when it rains? 

 I should have shown you something infinitely 

 better than the fugitive escaping from the 

 forceps. You would have witnessed — and, 

 in so doing, would have shared my surprise 

 — not the brief flight of the Mason who, car- 

 ried to the nearest room, rekises herself and 

 forthwith returns to her nest in that familiar 

 neighbourhood, but long journeys through un- 

 known country. You would have seen the 

 Bee whom I carried to a great distance from 

 her home, to quite unfamiliar ground, find 

 her way back with a geographical sense 

 of which the Swallow, the Martin and 

 the Carrier-pigeon would not have been 

 ashamed; and you would have asked your- 

 self, as I did, what incomprehensible know- 

 40 



