The Last of the Barons 95 



the Woodwrens had arrived, to spend the summer 

 among the oaks ; the Sandpipers were whistling 

 along the river below, and the trout were lazily 

 rising in the pools among the rocks. 



The Baroness was happy and cheerful ; the 

 Baron, looking back on the experience of half 

 a century, knew well that a tranquil April does 

 not always lead to a happy May ; but he said 

 nothing of his doubts, and encouraged his wife. 

 She had presented him, one after another, with 

 three beautiful eggs ; they lay in the nest, which 

 had been built of sticks, and ornamented, ac- 

 cording to the ancestral custom of the race, with 

 such pleasing odds and ends as could be found 

 at hand, to occupy her attention during the weary 

 days of her sitting. A long shred of sheep's 

 wool : a fragment of an old bonnet that had been 

 a scarecrow, blown by winter winds from a cot- 

 tage garden : a damp piece of the Times news- 

 paper, in which a fisherman's lunch had been 

 wrapped, containing an account of Lord Roberts' 

 entry into Bloemfontein ; such were the innocent 

 spoils collected to amuse the Baroness. She 

 had been greatly tempted by some small linen 



