you
were not there."

"No, dear," said the hare, "the truth is, I have been waiting for ever
so long to come into the copse on a visit to an old friend, but you must
know that the weasel lives here."

"Does the weasel live here?" said Bevis, starting up. "Tell me where,
and I will kill him; I will cut off his head with my knife."

"I cannot tell you exactly where he lives," said the hare, "but it is
somewhere in the copse. It is of no use your looking about; it is in
some hole or other, quite hidden, and you would never find it. I am
afraid to come into the copse while he is here; but this afternoon the
dragon-fly brought me word that the weasel had gone out. So I made haste
to come while he was away, as I had not seen my old friend the squirrel
for ever so long, and I wanted to know if the news was true."

"Do you mean about Kapchack?" said Bevis. "I came to see the squirrel
too, but I cannot find him."

"Yes, I mean about Kapchack," said the hare. "Is it not silly of him to
fall in love at his age? Why, he must be ten times as old as me! Really,
I some times think that the older people get the sillier they are. But
it is not much use your looking for the squirrel, dear. He may be up in
the fir-tree, or he may be in the beech, or he may have gone along the
hedge. If you were by yourself, the best thing you could do would be to
sit still where you are, and he would be nearly sure to come by, sooner
or later. He is so restless, he goes all over the copse, and is never
very long in one place. Since, however, you and I have met, I will find
him for you, and send him to you."

"How long shall you be?" said Bevis. "I am tired of sitting here now,
and I shall go on along the path."

"Oh, then," said the hare, "I shall not know where to find you, and that
will not do. Now, I know what I will do. I will take you to the
raspberries, and there you can eat the fruit till I send the squirrel."

The hare leapt into the fern, and Bevis went after her. She led him in
and out, and round the ash-stoles and bushes, till he had not the least
idea which way he was going. After a time, they came to an immense
thicket of bramble and thorn, and fern growing up in it, and honeysuckle
climbing over it.

"It is inside this thicket," said the hare. "Let us go all round, and
see if we can find a way in."

There was a place under an ash-stole, where Bevis could just creep
beneath the boughs (the boughs held up the brambles), and after g