FREE AT LAST. 245 



against the window, which they had not touched 

 for months, being perfectly aware of the obstacle 

 there. However, he changed his manners, and 

 I heard much low, sweet talk in the cage, such 

 as he had used to coax me for currants. She 

 listened, but said nothing. I neglected to say 

 that meanwhile she had replaced her scraggy 

 feathers and grown a fine tail. 



Another time I saw the two orioles on top of 

 a cage, six or eight inches apart. First she 

 stretched up and faced him, uttering a peculiar 

 cry, a single note of rich but mournful tone, and 

 then she bowed again and again, constantly re- 

 peating the call. He posed, turned this way and 

 that, evidently aching to fly at her. At last she 

 flew, and he followed to another cage, where the 

 performance was repeated. Then came a mad 

 chase around the room, which she ended by slip- 

 ping behind a large cage. 



For some days these scenes were frequent, 

 and I began to feel myself a jailer; so one 

 morning they were carried to the country, where 

 sparrows would not mob them, and set at liberty 

 to pursue their wooing, if such it were, in free- 

 dom. 



