142 
OUR BIRDS IN WINTER. 
Oscar, after holding the bird a while 
longer, stroking its feathers and nursing its 
broken wing, giving in so doing a great deal 
of pain, placed it in its nest and left it by 
itself, and then accompanied his father to the 
forest to work. 
Tobin’s wife was busy about the house 
doing her household work, now in one room, 
then in another. Soon she went to tlie garden 
to get some vegetables, and Henry was left 
in the house alone. As he lay in the nest 
reflecting upon his condition, all his misdeeds 
came back to his memory, one by one, and he 
wondered how he could have been so bad. 
We are never so conscious of our wickedness, 
as when we are suffering in consequence of it. 
His thoughts were interrupted by a steal- 
thy step, and, peering from his nest, he saw 
the same cat that he had exposed the Green- 
finch to, the night before, creeping softly 
towards him. The cat, although no larger 
tliaii usual, seemed to his sight to be as big 
as a lion. His heart sank within him, for, as 
she approached him, licking her chops, and 
