SELBORNE 309 



informed him, new facts relating to the pro- 

 creant instincts of that singular fowl had come 

 to light. 



After a short interval of silence I would 

 become conscious of a change in him, as if a 

 cloud had lifted — of a quiet smile on his, to my 

 earthly eyes, invisible countenance, and he would 

 add : " No, no ; you have yourself supplied me 

 with a reason for questioning your views ; your 

 statement of them — pardon me for saying it — 

 struck me as somewhat rhapsodical. I refer to 

 your commendations of my humble history of 

 the Parish of Selborne. It is gratifying to me 

 to hear that this poor Uttle book is still in such 

 good repute, and I have been even more pleased 

 at that idea of modern naturalists, so flattering 

 to my memory, of a pilgrimage to Selborne ; but, 

 if so great a change has come over men's minds 

 as you appear to believe, and if they have put 

 some new interpretation on nature, it is certainly 

 curious that I should still have readers." 



It would be my turn to smile now — a smile 

 for a smile — and silence would follow. And so, 

 with the dispersal of this little cloud, there would 

 be an end of the colloquy, and each would go his 



