MARCH, 1882. 153 



water going down, and thought the worms must be easily 

 got at, and so went flop down without looking, for I was 

 very tired ; and it nearly turned my stomach." " What 

 did !" said Jenny, looking interested just to spite the first 

 comer. "What did?" repeated he. " My dear, I was 

 actually up to the knees in frog spawn ! the awfulest lot 

 of it, and there I was right in the middle ; so you 



see ," he whispered. " No ; I dont see at all," said 



Jenny ; " a nice lot of fools. What were the frogs doing 

 throwing their spawn on the water when they ought to 

 have known it would only be there for a day or two, and 

 pretty fellows to tell whether it was really spring, when 

 they didn't know a day's puddle from a regular bog. 

 The cold-blooded wretches, too, what can they care about 

 weather, or know about a mother's cares I mean 'a lady's 

 considerations?'" she corrected, with a little toss of her 

 head. 



All this time No. i was edging round the new comer, 

 and now asked him if he saw the bat last evening, and 

 noted how busy he was ? " Spoke to him some nights 

 ago before going to bed," he replied haughtily ; "wasn't 

 looking strong," he added carelessly, " said he had been 

 confined to his bed for some time." " Hungry enough, 

 I'm sure," said Jenny, mischievously, " and he will be 

 'confined to his bed' for a while yet before the new moon's 

 old." " Has a very nice time of it," said the first Robin, 

 "always takes to his bed in hard times, and says he 

 never felt last winter at all." "Blinking fool," said No. 

 2, " didn't recognise me although I had on my new waist- 

 coat," and he smoothed it with an air of conquest ; "and 

 never thanked me, although I told him where the nicest 

 lot of gnats were to be had. But he has a nice easy time 

 of it." 



