'A CHAPTER OF ACCIDENTS' 



207 



to one of the ladies, which caused her to leave the 

 marks of her teeth on vie, I did not mean to 

 provoke her quite so much as that. 



And then one day, without a word of warning, 

 half a dozen smelling ferrets were thrown up on to 

 the top of the stack, where we were all assembled, 

 just under the thatch, to enjoy the fine warm weather. 

 What a commotion then arose among the aristocracy, 

 when they found their sacred dwellings invaded by 

 these odoriferous aliens ! My wife — to her credit 

 be it said — fled screaming to the nursery, where I 

 expect that she died, for she would face anything 

 in defence of her children. ' Why did not I go 

 too V Why should I ? The passage would only 

 hold one, and I should have been in the way ; 

 besides, I did not care for the brats so much as 

 she did, and gentlemen are out of place in the 

 nursery. I maintain, therefore, that I was justified 

 in making a bolt for my own safety. But I very 

 nearly missed it, for I rushed along the top of the 

 stack in a blind hurry, narrowly escaping a stone 

 which was hurled at me from below, and tried to 

 push my way into another hole, which happened to 

 be blocked by a ferret. Luckily, he had his tail- 

 end turned towards me, for I was so anxious to 

 get in that I did not recognise him for a minute. 



