ch warmer, but
certainly the little closet had been built at the same time as the
house, when the fireplace and the chimney had been built.

"I don't exactly know where it goes to, Laurie," said Aunt Laura, "it
has always been there. When I was a little girl I used to think it was a
door into another part of the house, that I did not know about, where I
had never been, and I used to stand on a chair and peep in, but it was
too dark to see in all the way. I keep some of my jellies in it now,"
she added, and as she spoke, she opened the door, and showed him a
tempting row of tumblers, filled with clear amber jelly, neatly covered
with white paper.

Even after Aunt Laura had tucked him into bed, and given him a
good-night kiss, Laurie kept wondering about all he had seen--there was
so much to think about.

"I wonder why the pigeons keep flying about all day," he said to
himself, "and what chickens and geese say to each other--after all, I
don't believe they can talk at all," he continued, "for they do not seem
to be really doing anything--they just fly around in a silly sort of
way, picking up crumbs, I wonder what they would talk about if they
could. I wonder if I could peep inside the dove-cote some day and see
what it looks like." By this time he was almost asleep, but he kept
repeating to himself, "I wonder--I wonder--I wonder," over and over
again, until it sounded more like whirrder-whirrder-whirr--yes, Laurie
was almost sure he had stopped saying "wonder" and something soft like
whirr-whirr sounded close by, as if one of the pigeons themselves was
flying about the room.

Laurie opened his eyes wide--"How could a pigeon be in this room," he
thought; "they must surely be asleep in the dove-cote by this time." The
room was quite dark, except for a little square of light high upon the
wall, but he gradually made out the different objects in the room, and
saw that the light came from the little cupboard on the mantlepiece. He
heard the soft whirr again, this time close by, and looking up he saw a
pigeon perched on one of the four posts of his bed. "So you don't
believe we have any work to do," said the pigeon. "Would you like to see
inside the dove-cote? If so, come with me." When he said this, he
hovered about the bed for a moment, then fluttered over to the
mantelpiece, and stood beside the little cupboard.

[Illustration: Laurie enters the cupboard]

Laurie was about to say that he could not possibly get up to