at the back door and feed the children and out of the 

 front, when he arrived at the back door with more 

 food. 



Then came a day when Spilly Willy summoned me 

 with piercing shrieks of alarm. I rushed out and 

 sat long before I understood. Tildy, it seemed, had 

 gone off as usual for a spider and, alack and alas, 

 had not returned. There was no use to hunt — I 

 didn't know where to go — I could only say all the 

 comforting things I could think of and keep a vigil 

 over the little flock while the disconsolate husband 

 sought far and near, coming back every now and 

 again with food which he hastily and silently deliv- 

 ered only to be off again, desperately calling in heart- 

 breaking tones, through the Tildyless distance. 



Toward the end of the third hour, what with his 

 heartache and double duty of feeding the children, 

 Spilly Willy was nigh dead, and I never saw a sadder 

 thing than when he went over to their first little home 

 and crawled inside, his back turned to the world, 

 alone with his memories and his sorrow. 

 ' We had both given up hope — I believed a cat 

 had gotten her or she had become entangled in a 

 wire fence — ■ when suddenly a Niag&ra of song 

 sounded near. 



192 



