The Last of the Barons 91 



set they are! What'll they do with all their 

 cabinets, I should like to know! Sell them to 

 be scattered all over the place ! Stow them 

 away in a garret and forget all about them ! 

 Die some day, and have the public-house 

 people picking 'em up cheap at your sale, to 

 put in a glass case in the parlour! It's infernal ; 

 I don't like this job, Susan." 



Susan's tears were beginning to run down. 

 The sun had shone upon her for a moment, 

 and then suddenly gone behind a cloud again. 

 Two or three of the children, seeing their 

 mother troubled, began to roar. Poor Stephen 

 swallowed his tea, and fled from the confusion 

 to his workshop, followed by his son. 



" \Ve must do this job, dad," said Tom, when 

 they were alone. 



" I tell you I don't like it, my lad, said his 

 father : " 'tis bad for us in the long run, and bad 

 for the Kites too. Your mother will say I am 

 a fool ; but there are not half a dozen pairs left 

 in the kingdom, and I can't go and persecute 

 them for these private collectors. There's a lot 

 of nonsense talked about these things extinction 



