THE MASONS 199 



solved. The voice of a wasp w^as heard 

 buzzing out its high-keyed song of indus- 

 try, though no wasp could be seen. At 

 first the tell-tale song was dismissed as the 

 crying of a fly in distress, but when it re- 

 curred again and again search was made 

 and the sound traced to one corner of the 

 attic, where at length her ladyship was dis- 

 covered working for dear life over a rafter, 

 between that and the shingles. 



She had found a hole somewhere in the 

 roof, and had chosen this most secret and 

 safe retreat. At least it would have been 

 secret had she kept quiet, and it was safe 

 enough, as it was impossible to get it 

 without unroofing the house. Although 

 the Pelopaeus of to-day has learned to use 

 the roofs provided by man, where there 

 are none handy she finds a dry shelter 

 under a stone or in the stump of a tree, 

 and there makes her mud cradles, this 

 doubtless having been her habit in those 

 long ago times, when wasps existed, but 



