LITTLE JAKE 173 
indoors he was there sittin' in a chair. Mother said 
he was poorly like, an' he was very quiet : we 
missed his little chatter. The next day he was no 
better, an' then we had the doctor. Things went on 
for a week or two the same way, sometimes a little 
better, sometimes worse. When I asked him how he 
felt, he used to look up at me an' say, " Tired, dad, so 
tired ! " I tell ye somethin' used rise up in my throat 
when he'd speak like that, all chokey like. He'd talk 
to his bullfinch a good deal ; an' the creetur knowed 
him like a human. It was from you he had it, you'll 
remember. Ay, he did think a lot o' that bird, an' the 
creetur was fond of him as possible. 'Twas a cruel sight 
to me for to see his poor thin fingers play with it ; for 
he'd begun to waste. The doctor was good an' kind to 
him ; uncommon good he was, an' he'd chat to him 
cheery like whenever he come. One day I see him 
get up from where he'd bin talkin', an' walk away to 
the winder ; an' he bides there a bit. It warn't a 
fly as he wiped off his face there. May he be 
rewarded for all his kindness, in a different place to 
this! 
' At last he took to his bed reg'lar ; he was so 
weak. We had to take the bird up where he could 
see Jake, for it pined an' mourned so when it missed 
him. Directly we took him up an' he caught sight 
