r, 'as if there were strangers
here, but Grip is wiser than to fancy that. Jump then!'

Accepting this invitation with a dignity peculiar to himself, the bird
hopped up on his master's shoulder, from that to his extended hand, and
so to the ground. Barnaby unstrapping the basket and putting it down in
a corner with the lid open, Grip's first care was to shut it down with
all possible despatch, and then to stand upon it. Believing, no doubt,
that he had now rendered it utterly impossible, and beyond the power of
mortal man, to shut him up in it any more, he drew a great many corks in
triumph, and uttered a corresponding number of hurrahs.

'Mother!' said Barnaby, laying aside his hat and stick, and returning
to the chair from which he had risen, 'I'll tell you where we have been
to-day, and what we have been doing,--shall I?'

She took his hand in hers, and holding it, nodded the word she could not
speak.

'You mustn't tell,' said Barnaby, holding up his finger, 'for it's a
secret, mind, and only known to me, and Grip, and Hugh. We had the dog
with us, but he's not like Grip, clever as he is, and doesn't guess it
yet, I'll wager.--Why do you look behind me so?'

'Did I?' she answered faintly. 'I didn't know I did. Come nearer me.'

'You are frightened!' said Barnaby, changing colour. 'Mother--you don't
see'--

'See what?'

'There's--there's none of this about, is there?' he answered in a
whisper, drawing closer to her and clasping the mark upon his wrist.
'I am afraid there is, somewhere. You make my hair stand on end, and my
flesh creep. Why do you look like that? Is it in the room as I have seen
it in my dreams, dashing the ceiling and the walls with red? Tell me. Is
it?'

He fell into a shivering fit as he put the question, and shutting out
the light with his hands, sat shaking in every limb until it had passed
away. After a time, he raised his head and looked about him.

'Is it gone?'

'There has been nothing here,' rejoined his mother, soothing him.
'Nothing indeed, dear Barnaby. Look! You see there are but you and me.'

He gazed at her vacantly, and, becoming reassured by degrees, burst into
a wild laugh.

'But let us see,' he said, thoughtfully. 'Were we talking? Was it you
and me? Where have we been?'

'Nowhere but here.'

'Aye, but Hugh, and I,' said Barnaby,--'that's it. Maypole Hugh, and
I, you know, and Grip--we have been lying in the forest, and among the
trees by the road side, with a da