258 A PLUM-TREE ROMANCE. 



the inexorable task-master of us all, who pro- 

 verbially "waits for no man," hurried off these 

 last precious days of July with painful eager- 

 ness, and thrust before me the first of August, 

 with the hot and dusty journey set down for that 

 day, long before I was ready for it. 



So I did not see the end of their love and 

 labor myself, but the bird's wisdom in the selec- 

 tion of a site for her nursery was proved to be 

 greater than mine, who had ventured to criticise 

 her, by the fact that the nest, as I have been 

 assured, escaped the young eyes of the neigh- 

 borhood, and turned out its full complement of 

 birdlings to add to next summer's beauty and 

 song. 



