he has a worse disposition, even, than the
Popinjay. That beautiful little lady with the deep blue velvet cloak
and the vest that looks like ploughed fields in March, is the Skybird;
she is lovely and gentle, and reminds me of Avrillia. But she's quite
absent-minded. Besides, she's very careful of her manners; so don't
expect her to speak to you. Now come on, and watch them eat."

Sara was very curious, but a little timid, the visitors looked so
large and so strange; so she held tight to Pirlaps' hand as they stole
carefully up to the group and stopped near the table. The Popinjay,
the Squawk, the Redpecker and the Skybird went on eating as if nothing
had happened, so Sara felt sure she had been sufficiently polite; but
the little When, who was hopping about from one side of the table to
the other, cast a bright, questioning glance at her that made her
whisper, behind her hand, and under her breath, "Next August!" And
then she was sure she heard the Snicker wink.

All this time Sara had been aware of an irresistible curiosity about
the table. It looked somehow familiar and unpleasant; and yet it was
of a beautiful primrose yellow, decorated with blue roses. At last she
put up her hand and whispered to Pirlaps, "The table! Where did you
get the table? It wasn't here the other day!"

Pirlaps laughed softly. "Ah, Sara," he said, "you aren't easy to
hoodwink! That's the Seven-Times table. Avrillia and I had a regular
battle about it. Of course we never really quarrel," he explained
seriously, "but we sometimes have a lively clash of wills. After we
finished off the Fractions yesterday, I was determined to save that
table for a memento. Avrillia hated the idea, and positively refused
to have it in the house; and then I won my point by remembering that
we'd never had a table large enough for the birds to eat from when it
snowed. I told her we'd keep it on the lawn. She tried to persuade me
to order a plain Time-Table from your country, instead; saying that,
though it would be bad enough to have our nice clean eternity
cluttered up with a Time-Table, it would be better than one of these.
But I finally brought her around, by promising to paint it and make it
as pretty as possible. She'll forget its real nature after a while,
and I shall always value it greatly for its historical interest."

Sara's mind was distracted toward the close of this explanation by the
peculiar, not to say angry, behavior of the Popinjay and the Squ