met him in the lane when we were giving 

 our little companion a stroll, and asked him 

 if he thought it would turn into a drake and 

 have a curled feather in its tail. The Vicar 

 would have none of it. " No, no," he said, 

 " that's impossible. Dux femina fatti^ you 

 know, ha, ha ! " We thanked him and retired. 

 <2 So matters went on for about a fortnight, 

 the duckling showing a slight increase in size, 

 but still maintaining its yellow fluffiness, its 

 capacity for friendship and its strange intelli- 

 gence. Then there came the sad and fatal 

 night which put an end to this little idyll. 

 The duckling, as I have said, slept in a basket, 

 and at night this was conveyed with its gentle 

 occupant to the bedroom of the two bigger 

 boys. Turn and turn about each of them had 

 the right to have the basket on the floor by his 

 bedside. On this particular night it was the 

 turn of the eldest boy. Before he turned in 

 it seemed to him that his little friend was 

 not so comfortable as usual in the basket. 

 He thought it might be cold, and told his 



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