b Jakin, whose task of frightening the birds was just now at a
standstill.

It must be owned that Tom was fond of Bob's company. How could it be
otherwise? Bob knew, directly he saw a bird's egg, whether it was a
swallow's, or a tom-tit's, or a yellow-hammer's; he found out all the
wasps' nests, and could set all sorts of traps; he could climb the
trees like a squirrel, and had quite a magical power of finding
hedgehogs and stoats; and every holiday-time Maggie was sure to have
days of grief because Tom had gone off with Bob.

Well, there was no help for it. He was gone now, and Maggie could
think of no comfort but to sit down by the holly, or wander lonely by
the hedgerow, nursing her grief.

Chapter V.

THE FAMILY PARTY.

On the day of the family party Aunt Glegg was the first to arrive, and
she was followed not long afterwards by Aunt Pullet and her husband.

Maggie and Tom, on their part, thought their Aunt Pullet tolerable,
because she was not their Aunt Glegg. Tom always declined to go more
than once during his holidays to see either of them. Both his uncles
tipped him that once, of course; but at his Aunt Pullet's there were a
great many toads to pelt in the cellar-area, so that he preferred the
visit to her. Maggie disliked the toads, and dreamed of them horribly;
but she liked her Uncle Pullet's musical snuff-box.

When Maggie and Tom came in from the garden with their father and their
Uncle Glegg, they found that Aunt Deane and Cousin Lucy had also
arrived. Maggie had thrown her bonnet off very carelessly, and coming
in with her hair rough as well as out of curl, rushed at once to Lucy,
who was standing by her mother's knee.

Lucy put up the neatest little rosebud mouth to be kissed. Everything
about her was neat--her little round neck with the row of coral beads;
her little straight nose, not at all snubby; her little clear eyebrows,
rather darker than her curls to match her hazel eyes, which looked up
with shy pleasure at Maggie, taller by the head, though scarcely a year
older.

"O Lucy," burst out Maggie, after kissing her, "you'll stay with Tom
and me, won't you?--Oh, kiss her, Tom."

Tom, too, had come up to Lucy, but he was not going to kiss her--no; he
came up to her with Maggie because it seemed easier, on the whole, than
saying, "How do you do?" to all those aunts and uncles.

"Heyday!" said Aunt Glegg loudly. "Do little boys and gells come into
a room without taking noti