Then, why this fearful suspense?
In vain I look around: the roof is clear, the windows near are closed.

I crumble the bread that remains from my breakfast to attract them by an ampler feast.

Their chirpings increase, they bend down their heads, the boldest approach upon the wing, but without daring to alight.
Come, come, my sparrows are the victims of one of the foolish panics which make the funds fall at the Bourse! It is plain that birds are not more reasonable than men! With this reflection I was about to shut my window, when suddenly I perceived, in a spot of sunshine on my right, the shadow of two pricked-up ears; then a paw advanced, then the head of a tabby-cat showed itself at the corner of the gutter.

The cunning fellow was lying there in wait, hoping the crumbs would bring him some game.
And I had accused my guests of cowardice! I was so sure that no danger could menace them! I thought I had looked well everywhere! I had only forgotten the corner behind me! In life, as on the roofs, how many misfortunes come from having forgotten a single corner! Ten o'clock .-- I cannot leave my window; the rain and the cold have kept it shut so long that I must reconnoitre all the environs to be able to take possession of them again.

My eyes search in succession all the points of the jumbled and confused prospect, passing on or stopping according to what they light upon.
Ah! see the windows upon which they formerly loved to rest; they are those of two unknown neighbors, whose different habits they have long remarked.
One is a poor work-woman, who rises before sunrise, and whose profile is shadowed upon her little muslin window-curtain far into the evening; the other is a young songstress, whose vocal flourishes sometimes reach my attic by snatches.