MILLY'S BIRTHDAY Now we have come to a chapter which is going to be half merry and half sad.

I have not told you any sad things about Milly and Olly up till now, I think.

They were such happy little people, that there was nothing sad to tell you.

They cried sometimes, of course--you remember Milly cried when Olly stickied her doll--but generally, by the time they had dried up their tears they had quite forgotten what they were crying about; and as for any real trouble, why they didn't know what it could possibly be like.

But now, just as they were going away from Ravensnest, came a real sad thing, and you'll hear very soon how it happened.
After those three wet days it was sometimes fine and sometimes rainy at Ravensnest, but never so rainy as to keep the Nortons in all day.