A Street Troubadour 



in the plot, and, tangled and intermeshed, they 

 tightened even more, till the group of wonder- 

 ing, upturned child faces in the Park below 

 were centred on a tousled feathery form hang- 

 ing still and silent in the place of the bustling, 

 noisy, energetic Biddy Sparrow. 



Poor Randy seemed deeply distressed. The 

 neighbor Sparrows had come at the danger-call 

 note, and joined their cries with his, but had 

 not been able to help the victim. Now they 

 went off to their own squabbles and troubles, 

 and Randy hopped about chirping or sat still 

 with drooping wings. It was long before he 

 realized that she was dead, and all that day he 

 exerted himself to interest her and make her 

 join in their usual life. At night he rested 

 alone in one of the trees, and at gray dawn was 

 bustling about, singing occasionally and chir- 

 ruping around the nest, from whose rim, in the 

 fateful horsehair, hung Biddy, stiff and silent 

 now. 



VI 



Randy had never been an alert Sparrow. His 

 Canary training had really handicapped him. 



i33 



