DOMESTIC INFELICITY. 187 



His manner was as unruffled as Madam's was 

 excited. The most just and honorable cause in 

 the world could not give more absolute self-pos- 

 session, more dignified persistence, than was 

 shown by this wonderful atom of a bird. He 

 acknowledged her right to reprove him, for he 

 vanished before her outraged motherhood every 

 time; but the moment the chase ended he fell 

 to collecting food, and by the time his assailant 

 had given her bantling a morsel, he was ready 

 with another. 



What could be his motive? Was he a char- 

 ity-mad personage, such as we sometimes see 

 among bigger folk, determined to benefit his 

 kind, whether they would or no ? Had he, per- 

 chance, been bereaved of his own younglings, 

 and felt moved to bestow his parental care upon 

 somebody? Did he wish to experiment with 

 some theory of his own on another's baby? 

 Was it his aim to coax that young redstart to 

 desert his family and follow after the traditions 

 of the chestnut-sided? 



Alas! how easy to ask; how hard to answer! 



By this time I had become as absorbed in the 

 drama as my companion. We forgot, or post- 

 poned, the blue, and gave the day to study of 

 this case of domestic infelicity. Five long hours 

 we sat there (morning and afternoon) before the 

 stage on which the interesting but agitating 



