IS's MaLe 



at the back door and feed the children and out of the 

 front, when he arrived at the back door with more 

 food. 



Then came a day when Spilly Willy summoned me 

 with piercing shrieks of alarm. I rushed out and 

 sat long before I understood. Tildy, it seemed, had 

 gone off as usual for a spider and, alack and alas, 

 had not returned. There was no use to hunt I 

 didn't know where to go I could only say all the 

 comforting things I could think of and keep a vigil 

 over the little flock while the disconsolate husband 

 sought far and near, coming back every now and 

 again with food which he hastily and silently deliv- 

 ered only to be off again, desperately calling in heart- 

 breaking tones, through the Tildyless distance. 



Toward the end of the third hour, what with his 

 heartache and double duty of feeding the children, 

 Spilly Willy was nigh dead, and I never saw a sadder 

 thing than when he went over to their first little home 

 and crawled inside, his back turned to the world, 

 alone with his memories and his sorrow. 



We had both given up hope I believed a cat 

 had gotten her or she had become entangled in a 

 wire fence when suddenly a Niagara of song 

 sounded near. 



192 



