Too Muck of a Good Thing 



as they could find had no flavour that day ; 

 and now too the slugs came out refreshed, and 

 finished the work of the blackbirds. 



The rain went on next day, and when at last 

 it stopped the strawberry-bed was sodden and 

 uninviting. The Member, tired of staying in 

 the house, and eager to get back to his London 

 suburb, where certain fruits should now be ripen- 

 ing on the walls of a small rectangular garden, 

 happily free from birds, proposed that they 

 should travel thither, and perhaps take a short 

 tour on the Continent By August, he urged, 

 the garden would be delightful again, and the 

 rowan-berries would be in all their glory ; and 

 perchance even the blackbirds would have gone 

 into the country for a change, willing to leave 

 poor Man a trifle in his own garden, after six 

 months of stuffing themselves and their young. 



To this plan the Poet was brought to con- 

 sent, for he felt a little tried by his friends both 

 human and winged. But Bessie would not go ; 

 she had too much to do at home, she said. 

 The fact was that during those rainy days she 

 and the Member had entered into a conspiracy 



Q 



