A Lucky Magpie 151 



seal ing- waxed end of his long pipe. The genius 

 seemed not unworthy of his venerable pre- 

 decessor, for he showed no resentment, and 

 settled himself down comfortably to hear the 

 tale or to roost 



" Now then. Once upon a time," said I, to 

 jog his memory. 



But that dear old fellow never did things 

 quite like other people ; perhaps that was why 

 I was so fond of him. He withdrew his pipe- 

 stem from the cage, and patting the back of his 

 wife's hand with it in passing (an action I did 

 not then understand), he pointed it in the 

 direction of the hills which bounded our view. 



"If you were to go up there," he said, "just 

 where you see the gap in the long line of trees, 

 you would see below you, on the other side, a 

 small village, and on beyond the village you'd 

 see a bit of a hillock, with three big elms 

 on it. And if you got near enough, I'll be 

 bound you'd see a magpie's nest in the tallest 

 tree to the right There always was one, when 

 I was a boy there, and there has always been 

 one whenever I've happened to be over there 



