to hatch in my hand: p51.jpg} I am perfectly happy where I am; it is not that; but it seems so strange that they can be perfectly happy without me, after all that they--after all that was said on the subject not many days ago.

Nothing turns out as one expects.

There have been no hot pursuits, no rewards offered, no bills posted, no printed placards issued describing the beauty and charms of a young person who supposed herself the cynosure of every eye.

Heigh- ho! What does it matter, after all?
One can always be a Goose Girl! * * * * * I wonder if the hen mother is quite, quite satisfied with her ducklings! Do you suppose the fact of hatching and brooding them breaks down all the sense of difference?
Does she not sometimes reflect that if her children were the ordinary sort, and not these changelings, she would be enjoying certain pretty little attentions dear to a mother's heart?
The chicks would be pecking the food off her broad beak with their tiny ones, and jumping on her back to slide down her glossy feathers.

They would be far nicer to cuddle, too, so small and graceful and light; the changelings are a trifle solid and brawny.