u mean,' corrected Anthea, in a whisper); 'if
it will be so kind, and we can be thinking while it's gone.'

So the Phoenix fluttered up through the grey space of the tower and
vanished at the top, and it was not till it had quite gone that Jane
said--

'Suppose it never comes back.'

It was not a pleasant thought, and though Anthea at once said, 'Of
course it will come back; I'm certain it's a bird of its word,' a
further gloom was cast by the idea. For, curiously enough, there was
no door to the tower, and all the windows were far, far too high to be
reached by the most adventurous climber. It was cold, too, and Anthea
shivered.

'Yes,' said Cyril, 'it's like being at the bottom of a well.'

The children waited in a sad and hungry silence, and got little stiff
necks with holding their little heads back to look up the inside of the
tall grey tower, to see if the Phoenix were coming.

At last it came. It looked very big as it fluttered down between the
walls, and as it neared them the children saw that its bigness was
caused by a basket of boiled chestnuts which it carried in one claw.
In the other it held a piece of bread. And in its beak was a very large
pear. The pear was juicy, and as good as a very small drink. When the
meal was over every one felt better, and the question of how to get home
was discussed without any disagreeableness. But no one could think
of any way out of the difficulty, or even out of the tower; for the
Phoenix, though its beak and claws had fortunately been strong enough
to carry food for them, was plainly not equal to flying through the air
with four well-nourished children.

'We must stay here, I suppose,' said Robert at last, 'and shout out
every now and then, and some one will hear us and bring ropes and
ladders, and rescue us like out of mines; and they'll get up a
subscription to send us home, like castaways.'

'Yes; but we shan't be home before mother is, and then father'll take
away the carpet and say it's dangerous or something,' said Cyril.

'I DO wish we hadn't come,' said Jane.

And every one else said 'Shut up,' except Anthea, who suddenly awoke the
Phoenix and said--

'Look here, I believe YOU can help us. Oh, I do wish you would!'

'I will help you as far as lies in my power,' said the Phoenix, at once.
'What is it you want now?'

'Why, we want to get home,' said every one.

'Oh,' said the Phoenix. 'Ah, hum! Yes. Home, you said? Meaning?'

'Where we live--where