112 THE BOOK OF A NATURALIST 
by taking a tremendous mouthful. The sisters 
exchanged frightened glances and watched him 
furtively, wondering at his courage—wondering, 
too, if he would be able to keep it up and consume 
the whole monstrous plateful. Then something 
happened: a change came over his face, he turned 
pale, and stopped chewing; then, with mouth still 
full, he suddenly rose and fled from the room. 
That was the end of their gorgeous dinner! 
Feeling pretty sure that he would not call for the 
cold remains of the bird next morning for breakfast 
they took it out and buried it in the garden, then 
threw all the doors and windows in the house open 
to get rid of the savour. It was late that evening 
when they next saw their brother; he was looking 
pale as if but lately recovering from a serious 
illness; but he sauntered in with an air of not 
knowing anything about it, and remarked casually 
that he had been for a stroll and didn’t know it 
was so late. But never a word about the heron he 
had dined on, nor did he ever after allude to the 
subject. 
