116 THE "BIRD OF THE MUSICAL WING." 



touched, to mass themselves and run down the 

 tunnel, at the bottom of which, it is to be pre- 

 sumed, sat Madam Arachne waiting for far other 

 prey. 



I looked on all this magnificence with admira- 

 tion and dismay. Should I wade through that 

 sea of gems, which at the touch of my garments 

 would resolve themselves, like the diamonds of 

 the fairy tales, not into harmless dead leaves, but 

 into mere vulgar wet ? The hummer flew by to 

 her nest, goldfinches called from the ledge. I 

 hesitated and went on. Making a path be- 

 fore me with my stick, stepping with care, to 

 disturb no drop unnecessarily, and leaving to 

 every spider her net full of pearls, I reached 

 my usual place, and seated myself in a sea of 

 jewels such as no empress ever wore. And be- 

 hold, the old fence too was transfigured with 

 strange hieroglyphics, into which dampness had 

 changed the lichens, and one half-dead old tree, 

 under the same subtle influence, had clad its 

 bare and battered branches in royal velvet, of 

 varied tints of green, white, and black. 



At last I turned lingeringly from all this 

 beauty to the nest. Ah ! something had hap- 

 pened there too! Madam sat on the edge, 

 leaned over, and made some movements within. 

 At my distance I could not be positive, but I 

 could guess and I did, and subsequent events 



