ird's nesting to orchard robbing--without
gipsy Bob, as he was called, getting the credit of it. And this sort of
thing was very bad for him. He knew he was not trusted and that he was
looked upon askance, and he gradually came to think that he might as
well act up to the character he by no means altogether deserved, and his
love of mischief, innocent enough as long as it was greatly mingled with
fun, came to have a touch of spite in it, which had not been in Bob's
nature to begin with.

There were two things that saved him from growing worse. One was his
intense, though half-unconscious, love of nature and all living things,
with which he seemed to have a kind of sympathy, and to feel a
tenderness for, such as are not often to be found in a boy like him. The
second was his grateful devotion to the Hervey family, which his strange
old grandmother, or great-grandmother, maybe, had done her utmost to
foster.

'Where are they to be seen?' said Justin, in a would-be off-hand tone.
'It would do no harm to have a look at them.'

'In course not,' said Bob eagerly. 'It's a good bit off--the place where
they are--but I know what I could do-- I could fetch 'em up to our place
to-morrow or next day, and you could see them there.'

Justin glanced at his brothers, at Pat especially, but, rather to his
surprise, Pat's face expressed no disapproval, but, on the contrary, a
good deal of interest. It was from Archie that the objection came.

'I don't see the good of Bob getting them, as we can't buy them,' he
said.

'How do you know we can't buy them?' asked Justin sharply.

'They cost a lot,' Archie replied, 'and, besides, I'm sure papa and
mamma wouldn't like us to have them. Mamma can't bear them, as you
know.'

'She need never see them,' said Justin, whose spirit of contradiction
was aroused by Archie's unusual opposition, 'and as for what they
cost--how much _do_ they cost, Bob?'

'I couldn't say just exactly,' said Bob, 'but I can easy find out, and
I'd do my best to make a good bargain for you. Five to ten shillin' a
couple, any price between those they might be,' he went on, 'and if you
really fancied them--why, I daresay granny'd let me keep them for you,
and when there come a holiday I could fetch 'em to wherever you like.'

'There's the old out-houses that papa thought of pulling down,' said
Justin. 'They're a nest of rats, I know, and we might be there a whole
afternoon without any one finding out, or we might us