it with him.

As for Mr. Pine Finch, he looked queerer than ever when he saw that
Dickie had brought eighteen of his relations with him. However, he bade
them all good morning. And he seemed to be even clumsier than he had
been the day before. He dropped an enormous number of buds; so many, in
fact, that Dickie Deer Mouse wondered how Mr. Pine Finch managed to get
enough breakfast for himself.

Perhaps that odd gentleman knew what he was about. To tell the truth,
he had noticed the day before that Dickie Deer Mouse looked thin and
hungry. His coat, too, struck Mr. Pine Finch as being somewhat shabby.
But he said nothing to show Dickie Deer Mouse that he knew there was
anything wrong. And if he dropped tree-buds on purpose, he never let
anyone know it.

Anyhow, Mr. Pine Finch did not fail to appear at that tree a single
morning during the rest of the winter. Before spring came the Deer Mouse
family had long since decided that he was the best friend they had in
all Pleasant Valley. And they all agreed that his voice, although he did
talk through his nose, was the pleasantest they had ever heard.

At last the breakfast parties beneath Mr. Pine Finch's favorite tree
came to an end. The snow vanished. Warm weather made the underground
chamber in Farmer Green's pasture seem crowded and stuffy. And Dickie
Deer Mouse said farewell to his eighteen cousins, because he wanted to
look for a pleasant place in which to spend the summer.

THE END

[Illustration]

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Arthur Scott Bailey

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