and calm, that the magistrate was perfectly dumbfoundered, and
for the moment thought him sane; and even we commenced to reproach
ourselves, and doubt which was the insane party.

"Well," said Mr. Hyatt, "I will now hear your story."

"I will read it to you," said Hudson, drawing a book from his pocket,
and then commenced again the same incoherent nonsense with which he had
already favored mamma. The object now was to show the chain of
evidence that pointed out Ida as his bride. The most important link
was the fact that he had once seen a flock of white geese sailing
through the air. He put up his finger, and one fluttered down to him;
and as G stood both for goose and Greeley, it was a clear manifestation
of the Divine Will (at this point, the audience burst into a roar of
laughter). Besides, he liked our family, we suited him in every
respect; and especially because we so much reminded him of John the
Baptist (we inwardly hoped that the resemblance would not extend to
decapitation). If Miss Greeley would not marry him, he kindly added,
he would take her cousin Marguerite instead, but he must positively
marry one of the family. He was now perfectly wild, and when he
remarked, with a reproachful glance at Ida, that he disliked
_ko-kwettes_, and liked a girl who would say in answer to an offer,
"Yes sir-ee," or "No sir-ee," the magistrate brought the evidence to a
conclusion. He gave him to the constable to be taken to the county
jail, where he was to be detained until the Court sat, if, in the
meantime, his relatives did not appear from Massachusetts to claim him
(for his place of residence varied--at first Baltimore, then Michigan,
it was now Massachusetts).

Hudson spent the night at the tavern, and appeared at times so
rational, that he was not strictly guarded; consequently, when the
constable looked for him after breakfast, the bird had flown. He was
instantly followed, and discovered walking on the railway track about
two miles off, swinging his little bundle quite unconcernedly. In
reply to the questions of his captors, he said that he had just
intended to make a little circuit about the country, and then return to
marry Ida. He is now, thank fortune, safely lodged _in jail_.

CHAPTER IV.

A Visit from Papa--A Musical Squirrel--Letters--Croquet--Extracts from
Letters--Visitors--The Loss of the Missouri--The True Story of Ida's
Engagement.

_June 13_.

Papa came up late last night with