m glowed a steady lovelight. She hovered over those
three red mites of nestlings so tenderly! She was so absorbed in
feeding, stroking, and coddling them she neglected herself until she
became quite lean.

When the Cardinal came every few minutes with food, she was a picture
of love and gratitude for his devoted attention, and once she reached
over and softly kissed his wing. "See here! See here!" shrilled the
Cardinal; and in his ecstasy he again forgot himself and sang in the
sumac. Then he carried food with greater activity than ever to cover
his lapse.

The farmer knew that it lacked an hour of noon, but he was so anxious
to tell Maria the news that he could not endure the suspense another
minute. There was a new song from the sumac. He had heard it as he
turned the first corner with the shovel plow. He had listened eagerly,
and had caught the meaning almost at once--"See here! See here!" He
tied the old gray mare to the fence to prevent her eating the young
corn, and went immediately. By leaning a rail against the thorn tree
he was able to peer into the sumac, and take a good look at the nest of
handsome birdlings, now well screened with the umbrella-like foliage.
It seemed to Abram that he never could wait until noon. He critically
examined the harness, in the hope that he would find a buckle missing,
and tried to discover a flaw in the plow that would send him to the
barn for a file; but he could not invent an excuse for going. So, when
he had waited until an hour of noon, he could endure it no longer.

"Got news for you, Maria," he called from the well, where he was making
a pretense of thirst.

"Oh I don't know," answered Maria, with a superior smile. "If it's
about the redbirds, he's been up to the garden three times this morning
yellin', 'See here!' fit to split; an' I jest figured that their little
ones had hatched. Is that your news?"

"Well I be durned!" gasped the astonished Abram.

Mid-afternoon Abram turned Nancy and started the plow down a row that
led straight to the sumac. He intended to stop there, tie to the
fence, and go to the river bank, in the shade, for a visit with the
Cardinal. It was very warm, and he was feeling the heat so much, that
in his heart he knew he would be glad to reach the end of the row and
the rest he had promised himself.

The quick nervous strokes of the dinner bell, "Clang! Clang!" came
cutting the air clearly and sharply. Abram stopped Nancy with a