256 GRAY LADY AND THE BIRDS 
”) 
than half an hour,” she said, as she saw the boys were 
quite as curious about untying their parcels as the girls. 
So, following her lead, they trudged off up the lane, past 
the barn and woodpile, to where the brush on either side 
narrowed it to a mere path. Then, where another lane 
crossed it, the way grew broader again, and while one 
side was screened by woods, from the other you could 
look out upon a stretch of waste meadows and fallow 
fields. 
There was only enough snow to crunch underfoot, and 
as Gray Lady walked ahead, a sprig of holly fastened at 
the neck of her gray chinchilla collar, and another in the 
close fitting hat of the same fur, her arms buried to the 
elbows in a great muff, her eyes sparkling with pleasure, 
and a rosy spot on each cheek made by the keen air, the 
boys cast many glances of genuine admiration at her. 
The big boys, especially, felt that she understood the situ- 
ation exactly, by taking them to walk without the girls, 
giving them her confidence, and planning something for 
them to do that would be different from girls’ work, or, 
at least, apart from it. 
“Perhaps some of the others have told you,” Gray Lady 
said to the big boys as they walked, “that I am very 
anxious not only to feed the small tree-birds, that they 
may stay with us in winter, but to try and help the Grouse 
and Quail, so that, instead of those that have escaped the 
dangers of the hunting season being driven out by hunger 
and cold, they shall live on and increase, and become 
again the friends to the farmers that they were in the old 
days. 
“You big boys all know how much complaint there is of 
