way there; but she and the nurse were most
dreadfully frightened, and you can fancy how delighted they were when
they found her. Only all the time of the fair after that, Marie's
grandmother would not let her go out except in the garden, which was a
big one though, for fear the gipsy dancing girl should try to steal her
again."

"But she _didn't_?" said Racey, drawing a long breath.

"No, of course she didn't. If she had, I couldn't have told you the
story."

"Oh I'm _so_ glad she didn't," said Racey again. "Oh Audrey, I'm _so_
glad nobody stolened her, and that no lionds eated her. Oh, it makes me
s'iver to think of dipsies and lionds."

"You little stupid," said Tom. Really he was very tiresome about teasing
poor Racey sometimes.

"You're not to tease him, Tom," I said; "and now it's your turn to tell
a story."

"Well," said Tom, "it's about a boy that was dedfully frightened of
li--"

"Oh Audrey, he's going to make up a' ugly story about me," said Racey,
beseechingly.

"No, no, I'm not," said Tom, "I was only teasing. My story's very nice,
but it's very short. Once there was a bird that lived in a
garden--Pierson told me this story--but when it came winter the bird
went away to some place where it was always summer. I _think_, but I'm
not quite sure--I _think_ the bird went to the sun, Pierson said."

"Oh no, it couldn't be that. The sun's much too far away. I've heard
about those birds. They don't go to the sun, they go to countries at the
other side of the world, where the sun always shines, that's what you're
thinking of, Tom."

"Well, perhaps that was it," said Tom, only half satisfied, "though it
would be much nicer to say they went to the sun. Well, this bird had a
nest in the garden, and there was a girl that lived in the garden--I
mean in the house where the garden was--that used to look at the birds,
'cause she liked them very much. And she liked this bird best, 'cause
its nest was just under her window, and she heard it singing in the
morning. And when it began to come winter she knew the bird would go
away, so what do you think she did? She got it catched one day, and she
tied a very weeny, weeny ribbon under its wing, some way that it
couldn't come undone, and then she let it go. And soon it went away to
that other country, and the winter came. And the girl was very ill that
winter. I don't know if it was measles she had," said Tom, looking very
wise, "but I should think it was. And they tho