e, she gathered her lap full of soft, faintly smelling
cowslips. She sat and looked at them in lonely rapture.

Oh for Susie and Dottie to help her to make them up into balls! Then
she remembered that she really had been very tired of Susie and Dottie;
it was odd she should want them directly she got away from them.

Day followed day, each hour of them full of sunshine, and beauty, and
leisure; but there was just one little drawback at Paradise Court, which
Iris began to feel more and more strongly--there was no one to talk to.
A hundred times a day she wanted someone to share her pleasure or
amusement--to laugh with her, or wonder with her, or to search with her
for fresh treasures. It seemed to take the edge off everything if she
must enjoy it alone; and this desire for sympathy at last grew so strong
that it caused her to be guilty of the grave indiscretion I shall now
relate. A friend had once given Mrs Fotheringham a couple of half-wild
white ducks of a peculiar kind, and these had so multiplied and
increased in the quiet retreat of Paradise Court that they now
threatened to become too numerous. Orders had accordingly been given
that their eggs were to be taken wherever they were found, and as they
were of a delicate flavour Mrs Fotheringham had them cooked for her
private use. The poor ducks, therefore, were perpetually thwarted in
their endeavours to bring up a family; but one of them continued its
efforts in such an undaunted manner that Iris watched the struggle going
on between it and Moore with the keenest interest. Nest after nest this
duck made, laid its eggs, and settled itself comfortably, only to be
disturbed with shouts and cries, and ruthlessly hustled off. Overcome
for the moment, but "constant still in mind," it waddled composedly
away, sought a more retired position, and made further arrangements.
The same thing happened all over again! Poor duck! Iris felt very
sorry for it, and would willingly have helped it to hide itself from
Moore if she could; but it was impossible to convey this sympathy to its
mind, and in the end it conducted its own affairs with great sagacity,
and completely baffled the enemy. For one morning as she passed the
bee-hives, her attention was caught by some soft white object under one
of them, almost concealed by the straw hackle which came low down on
each side of it. She stopped; could it be her friend the duck? It
really was; it sat there on its nest in a heav