THE MARMOSET. 



91 



The first we saw of him, he dropped down among 

 those beetles with a bounce, snatched one or two, 

 galloped across the floor, and scrambled to the 

 top of the lace curtain like a flash. His master 

 sprang after him, and coaxed and threatened in 

 vain. The saucy marmoset chattered back, and 

 calmly devoured them to the last eatable mor- 

 sel, leaving nothing but the gorgeous wing-cases, 

 which dropped to the floor. 



Observing that the sharp little eyes were 

 again fixed on the box, and that the two he had 

 captured had merely whetted his appetite for 

 costly beetles, his master covered up the box and 

 decided to exhibit his treasures in another room. 



At another time the marmoset saw something 

 that reminded him of home, probably. At any 

 rate he resolved to help himself, and did. His 

 master had brought a large collection of postage 

 stamps, to give to his friends. While sorting 

 and arranging them one day on the table he was 

 suddenly surprised by a visit from Master Ra- 

 vini, who alighted in the middle of his stamps, 

 snatched both hands full, and decamped so 

 quickly that he could not be caught by anybody 

 too heavy to follow him up his ladder of lace. 

 Regrets were useless ; he could not be made to 

 give them up, and the annoyed stamp-collector 

 had to stand and see him tear them to bits too 

 small to be repaired. 



