mamma by coming in from my play every 

 morning, and bringing in my slender jaws 

 a fresh-laid hen's egg, so fragile she could 

 never see how I could grasp it in my sharp 

 white teeth, and bring it steadily clear up- 

 stairs and lay it joyfully at her feet, without 

 breaking the shell. When I had done this 

 several mornings, mamma took all the eggs 

 over to Imogene's cottage, and said: 



" Imogene, I did not commission my 

 sweet little Fairy to rob your hens' nests; 

 the best I can do is to restore the booty." 



"The eggs cannot be mine," said Imo- 

 gene, "for there is a high wire fence all 

 around, and the gate to the hen-yard is 

 closed and locked; Fairy and Skippum have 

 been with John, and seen him take the eggs 

 from under the old hens and put them in 

 his hat, but they can't get in there by them- 

 selves, I am sure." 



So there was a great mystery. I could 

 not speak and tell that I was watching a big 

 black-and-white hen, who had a warm nest 

 cuddled in the tall grass under the grape-vine 

 in mamma's own yard. She had run away 

 from her flock and stolen a nest. I would 

 steal up behind her, and root my little sharp 



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