th great tenderness, the doctor would scratch it with one large
forefinger; then, suddenly, the word or sentence he sought returning to
his mind, he would bundle Jack into his cage, snatch up his pen, and
begin to write furiously. Jack never failed to repay him by a vicious
dig at his hand, which was sometimes successful, but this the doctor
never seemed to notice.

"Though," thought Ambrose as he watched all this in silence, "it must
hurt him, because I know how hard jackdaws peck."

He would have liked a little conversation on the subject with his
master, for he felt that though he did not know much Latin, he could
hold his own about jackdaws. There had been many at the Vicarage, which
had all come to unexpected or dreadful ends, and Ambrose was thoroughly
acquainted with their ways and habits.

But he was still far too much in awe of Dr Budge to venture on any
subject apart from his lessons, and he contented himself with watching
him and his bird with the closest interest.

They were an odd pair of friends. One so trim and neat, with such
slender legs and such a glossy black toilette; the other so crumpled and
shabby, with no regard for appearances at all, and his clothes never
properly brushed. As he held himself upright on the doctor's finger,
the jackdaw had the air of considering himself far the superior being.

Things went on in this way for about a fortnight, and Ambrose felt quite
as strange and far-away from Dr Budge as the day he had begun his
lessons, when something happened which changed his ideas very much.

One morning, arriving at his usual hour with his books under his arm,
and his exercise carefully written out, he was surprised to find the
study empty. The doctor's chair was pushed back from the table as
though he had risen hastily, and his pen was lying across his paper,
where it had made a great blot of ink.

Lifting his eyes to the cage in the window, Ambrose saw that that was
empty also; the little door was open, and there was no smart, active
figure within. What did it all mean? While he was wondering, the
doctor came slowly into the room with a troubled frown on his brow.

He greeted Ambrose, and sat down in his usual seat, but there was
evidently something amiss with him, although he was as attentive as ever
to his pupil's needs. Ambrose noticed, however, that when he had done
saying his lessons, and had an exercise to write by himself, Dr Budge
could not settle down as usual t