It meant, in the second place that the owner of Windygates, wanting money, had decided on letting the property.

It meant, in the third place, that the property had found a tenant, and was to be renovated immediately out of doors and in.

The Owls shrieked as they flapped along the lanes in the darkness, And that night they struck at a mouse--and missed him.
The next morning, the Owls--fast asleep in charge of the Constitution--were roused by voices of featherless beings all round them.

They opened their eyes, under protest, and saw instruments of destruction attacking the creepers.

Now in one direction, and now in another, those instruments let in on the summer-house the horrid light of day.