e to the group at the door.

"I did not know we had such an audience."

"Don't stop, friends," said Mr. Taylor, coming into the room. "Such music
is quite a treat. I guess, Susan, there is more in that piano than you ever
dreamed of. Let us hear something else."

Lancy rose from the music-stool, saying to Dexie:

"Play 'The Mocking Bird,' and I'll sing to your whistle."

A moment later Dexie's supple fingers were dancing over the keys in a
delightful prelude. Then Lancy's voice filled the room as he sang the
well-known song, accompanied by the exquisite notes of the southern mocking
bird, and the continuous warble that poured from Dexie's throat during the
chorus made her listeners start as if a veritable bird were concealed in
the room.

"Well, that spoils the old proverb from this time forth," said Mr. Taylor,
as he leaned back against the wall and thrust his thumbs into the armholes
of his vest. "Whistling girls and crowing hens will hereafter have a chance
to be heard. Old saws ain't always true, eh, Miss Sherwood?"

"Well, I never heard a hen crow yet, Mr. Taylor," and Dexie laughed softly,
"and I do not know what is their usual fate, but the proverb does not alarm
me in the least."

"Do whistle another piece, Miss Sherwood," said Susan. "It will give us
great pleasure to hear you."

Lancy turned over the leaves of a book, then placed it on the piano,
saying:

"Try that, Dexie, and I'll whistle with you."

It would be hard to express the pleasure that this exquisite bird-song gave
to those who listened. All the songsters in the woods seemed let loose in
the room, now singing together in full chorus, then singly or in pairs they
twittered and trilled as Dexie's soft whistle followed or joined Lancy's
stronger notes, while such bird-like notes came from the keys before her as
might have deceived the very birds themselves.

"Nothing will surprise me after this," cried Susan, when the song had
ended. "I heard my music-teacher play that once, and I thought it the
tamest thing I had ever heard; of course he did not try to whistle it too,
but the music itself sounded quite different."

"Perhaps your music-teacher never took the trouble to listen to the birds
themselves; that makes a difference, you know," said Dexie.

Just then Mrs. Taylor came into the room, saying:

"I think you must come to dinner, but you must give us some more music
afterwards. Really, Susan, that old piano is not such a poor affair,