saw it in the poultry yard a day or two after 

 it had come to light. There was something 

 peculiarly engaging about it, a spirit of for- 

 ward and confiding boldness that prompted 

 it rather to court than to avoid the tendered 

 hand of a boy. At any rate, it was selected 

 from the little flock and was carried, quite fear- 

 less, in a pocket to the house to be admired. 

 98 Once there it made itself at home direclly. 

 " This," it seemed to say, " is the imperial 

 palace to which I belong. Hens' nests and 

 fowl-runs are not for such as I. Human society 

 is what I require, and here I intend to abide." 

 It was divinely fluffy and yellow, and when, 

 having been set down on a table, it waddled 

 across with a roll so royal that it resembled a 

 swagger, and cocked its funny little head and 

 took stock of the company with a very know- 

 ing eye, there was a peal of laughter and de- 

 light from the children who were standing 

 round. It was settled at once that it should 

 not return to its foster-mother, but should be 

 kept as a home pet, and that a roomy basket 

 29 %& with 



