THE PINK FAMILY OUTDOORS 307 



of the owl : the wings did not flap, there was no sound, 

 merely the consciousness of displaced air. 



We were not, as it afterward proved, ten miles from 

 home, and yet, as far as trace of humanity was con- 

 cerned, we might have been the only created man and 

 woman. 



Do you remember the old gypsy song ? Ben Jon- 

 son's, I think 



" The owl is abroad, the bat, the toad, 

 And so is the cat-a -mountain ; 

 The ant and the mole both sit in a hole, 

 And frog peeps out o' the fountain ; 



The dogs they bay and the timbrels play 

 And the spindle now is turning; 

 The moon it is red, and the stars are fled 



But all the sky is a-burning." 



But we were still more remote, for of beaters of tim- 

 brels and turners of spindles were there none! 

 * * * * * * * 



Your last chronicle interested us all. In the first 

 place father remembers Mrs. Marchant perfectly, 

 for he and the doctor used to exchange visits con- 

 stantly during that long-ago summer when they lived 

 on the old Herb Farm at Coningsby. Father had 

 heard that she was hopelessly deranged, but nothing 



