Kitty had made herself a nest in a place, the selection of which did equal honour to her head and heart, and she gladdened my eyes one fine morning by appearing with a lovely brood of chicks around her.

Who so proud as the young mother?
She exhibited them to me, and after I had duly admired them, used to carry them off to a nursery of her own, which she had established among the tussocks just outside the stable door.

Mrs.C---- had impressed upon me that Kitty could be safely trusted to manage her own affairs.

No fear of her dragging her fluffy babies out among the wet grass too early in the morning, or losing them among the flax bushes on the hill-side.

No: Kitty came of a race who were model mothers, and was to be left to take care of herself and her chickens.
About a week after Kitty had first shown me her large, small family, a friend of ours arrived unexpectedly to stop the night.