n Hoodie is
naughty, but remember how much younger she is than you. And she does not
_want_ to make your mother ill--when she is naughty she just forgets all
but the feelings she has herself, but that is different from _wishing_
to hurt her mother."

Maudie grew very red.

"Yes," she said in a low voice, "I see how you mean, Cousin Magdalen. I
don't want to say unkind things of Hoodie."

"No, dear. I don't think you do," said her godmother. "Tell me why do
you call that field 'the cocky field'?"

Maudie laughed.

"Oh, it's because in one corner of it there's the little house papa's
made for the bantam cocks. Oh, Cousin Magdalen, they are _such_ ducks."

"_Such_ ducks," echoed Hec and Duke. "And they lay such lovely eggs."

"What remarkable creatures they must be," said Miss King. "But I must
own I don't quite see how they can be _ducks_ if they're cocks and
hens."

All the children laughed.

"They isn't zeally ducks," explained matter-of-fact Duke,
condescendingly. "But, you see, we calls zem ducks 'cos zey is so nice
and pretty."

"Ah yes, I see," said Cousin Magdalen, gravely. "So perhaps when you
know me better, if you think me _very_ nice, you'll call me a duck. Will
you, Duke? Even though really, you know, I'm an old woman."

"Yes," said Duke, "p'raps I will. But I didn't know zou was a _old_
woman."

"Didn't you, you dear old man?" said his cousin, laughing. "Never mind,
you may call me 'a old duck,' if you like. And after breakfast will you
take me to see these wonderful bantams--that's to say if you're allowed
to go there."

"Oh yes," said Maudie. "We may go whenever we like. They're so
tame--indeed, they're too tame, papa says, and that was why he made them
a place further away from the house than they used to be. They used to
come and hop about all the rooms, and once they laid an egg on one of
the library arm-chairs, and another time in papa's paper basket. They
thought that was a lovely nest."

"And are they better behaved now?" said Miss King.

"Oh yes, only sometimes they lay astray. So papa gives us a penny if we
find any of their eggs about the field or in the hedges anywhere," said
Maudie. "That's what makes Hoodie so fond of going in the cocky field.
She's far the cleverest at finding eggs. You should see her--and she's
got such a way with the cocks. She can cluck, cluck them close up to
her, and often she catches them. They're not a bit afraid of her."

"How funny," said Magdalen