en voice of the Phoenix had said 'Come in,' they
went in.

There lay the carpet--or what was left of it--and on it lay an egg,
exactly like the one out of which the Phoenix had been hatched.

The Phoenix was walking round and round the egg, clucking with joy and
pride.

'I've laid it, you see,' it said, 'and as fine an egg as ever I laid in
all my born days.'

Every one said yes, it was indeed a beauty.

The things which the children had bought were now taken out of their
papers and arranged on the table, and when the Phoenix had been
persuaded to leave its egg for a moment and look at the materials for
its last fire it was quite overcome.

'Never, never have I had a finer pyre than this will be. You shall not
regret it,' it said, wiping away a golden tear. 'Write quickly: "Go and
tell the Psammead to fulfil the last wish of the Phoenix, and return
instantly".'

But Robert wished to be polite and he wrote--

'Please go and ask the Psammead to be so kind as to fulfil the Phoenix's
last wish, and come straight back, if you please.' The paper was pinned
to the carpet, which vanished and returned in the flash of an eye.

Then another paper was written ordering the carpet to take the egg
somewhere where it wouldn't be hatched for another two thousand years.
The Phoenix tore itself away from its cherished egg, which it watched
with yearning tenderness till, the paper being pinned on, the carpet
hastily rolled itself up round the egg, and both vanished for ever from
the nursery of the house in Camden Town.

'Oh, dear! oh, dear! oh, dear!' said everybody.

'Bear up,' said the bird; 'do you think _I_ don't suffer, being parted
from my precious new-laid egg like this? Come, conquer your emotions and
build my fire.'

'OH!' cried Robert, suddenly, and wholly breaking down, 'I can't BEAR
you to go!'

The Phoenix perched on his shoulder and rubbed its beak softly against
his ear.

'The sorrows of youth soon appear but as dreams,' it said. 'Farewell,
Robert of my heart. I have loved you well.'

The fire had burnt to a red glow. One by one the spices and sweet woods
were laid on it. Some smelt nice and some--the caraway seeds and the
Violettes de Parme sachet among them--smelt worse than you would think
possible.

'Farewell, farewell, farewell, farewell!' said the Phoenix, in a
far-away voice.

'Oh, GOOD-BYE,' said every one, and now all were in tears.

The bright bird fluttered seven times round the room and s