42 LORD LILFOKD 



hearing voices, and ratified the permission 

 granted. 



The talk between the two having meanwhile 

 strayed to the subject of bird-nesting, he gave 

 them leave, on further acquaintance, to share 

 this amusement together. The little girl loved 

 flowers, and the boy's heart was given to birds, 

 so the two interchanged knowledge, and made 

 discoveries as botanist and field naturalist. 



Meanwhile, Dr. Bickmore's other boys had 

 noticed Powys's frequent absences, and asked 

 him where he went. He did not wish his little 

 six-year-old playmate to be teased or laughed at 

 (perhaps he would not have relished his own 

 portion of such treatment), and, to prevent the 

 boys from invading his favourite haunts in the 

 neighbouring woods, he invented a story of an 

 idol being located there, with fearful powers of 

 destruction. The small boys were properly 

 impressed, but one of the older scholars was as 

 obstinately incredulous as Mrs. Betsy Prig her- 

 self in somewhat similar circumstances. My 

 brother offered to conduct the unbeliever to 

 the idol, a weird and grotesque tree stump, the 

 upper part of which he had shaped into some 



