--I thought I noticed the
bones of a rabbit scattered about the far corner of the run--"

But when they came to look at them they found they were the larger bones
of a cat picked very clean and dry.

III.

"_That's_ no chick," said Mr. Bensington's cousin Jane.

"Well, I should _think_ I knew a chick when I saw it," said Mr.
Bensington's cousin Jane hotly.

"It's too big for a chick, for one thing, and besides you can _see_
perfectly well it isn't a chick.

"It's more like a bustard than a chick."

"For my part," said Redwood, reluctantly allowing Bensington to drag him
into the argument, "I must confess that, considering all the evidence--"

"Oh I if you do _that_," said Mr. Bensington's cousin Jane, "instead of
using your eyes like a sensible person--"

"Well, but really, Miss Bensington--!"

"Oh! Go _on!_" said Cousin Jane. "You men are all alike."

"Considering all the evidence, this certainly falls within the
definition--no doubt it's abnormal and hypertrophied, but
still--especially since it was hatched from the egg of a normal
hen--Yes, I think, Miss Bensington, I must admit--this, so far as one
can call it anything, is a sort of chick."

"You mean it's a chick?" said cousin Jane.

"I _think_ it's a chick," said Redwood.

"What NONSENSE!" said Mr. Bensington's cousin Jane, and "Oh!" directed
at Redwood's head, "I haven't patience with you," and then suddenly she
turned about and went out of the room with a slam.

"And it's a very great relief for me to see it too, Bensington," said
Redwood, when the reverberation of the slam had died away. "In spite of
its being so big."

Without any urgency from Mr. Bensington he sat down in the low arm-chair
by the fire and confessed to proceedings that even in an unscientific
man would have been indiscreet. "You will think it very rash of me,
Bensington, I know," he said, "but the fact is I put a little--not very
much of it--but some--into Baby's bottle, very nearly a week ago!"

"But suppose--!" cried Mr. Bensington.

"I know," said Redwood, and glanced at the giant chick upon the plate on
the table.

"It's turned out all right, thank goodness," and he felt in his pocket
for his cigarettes.

He gave fragmentary details. "Poor little chap wasn't putting on
weight... desperately anxious.--Winkles, a frightful duffer ... former
pupil of mine ... no good.... Mrs. Redwood--unmitigated confidence in
Winkles.... _You_ know, man with a manner like a cliff-