ed the house-mouse. "Tell me, quickly. I
have no notion of whom you're thinking."

"I'm thinking of the field-mouse," said the wood-mouse, with a deep
sigh.

The house-mouse was silent for a moment, out of respect for the other's
emotion. And presently the wood-mouse began to speak of her own accord:

"The field-mouse is our cousin, cousin, our own first cousin. There's no
denying the fact. But I must confess that I think she does the family no
credit. She is preposterously greedy. And her absurd gluttony injures
all of us. The tale is that the mice have done it. And so they have. But
who thinks of asking which mouse it is that has done it? Is it you? No.
You mind your own business indoors, in the house. Of course, you nibble
at a ham or a loaf or an old cheese or anything that comes your way.
That's only reasonable. One has to live; and goodness knows what might
be said of the way in which human beings get their food, if the matter
were looked into."

"What you say is an absolute fact," said the house-mouse. "I have often
thought, when I have been nibbling at a ham, that, if I was a thief,
then the forester, whose ham it was, was neither more nor less than a
murderer. Well ... and then they have the cat and the mouse-trap and all
the rest of their cunning, so they're all right. A poor mouse has to
think very hard and to risk her life pretty well every hour of the day
if she is to provide herself with food."

"Just so," said the wood-mouse. "It's not you. Then who is it? Is it I?
No, I mind my business as you mind yours. Of course, I take nuts and
beech-mast and acorns, when they fall; and I admit that I am a regular
whale for fir-cones. That fresh fir-seed is about the nicest thing I
know. So I gnaw the cones in two and eat the seeds; and then they are
gone when the forester wants them to sow firs with. But that is only
reasonable. I must live as well as he and there are quite enough firs in
the world. And I won't deny I may eat a bit of root once in a way,
in the spring, when the roots are quite fresh. But what then?
The forester himself is fond of vegetables, so he really need not grudge
me a few."

"Certainly not," said the house-mouse. "You are quite right, cousin. You
only do what we all do."

"Thank you for that kind word, cousin," said the wood-mouse. "I think
it's only fair. Well, just as he has the cat and the mouse-trap for you,
if you become too indiscreet, so he has the fox and the crow and the
pol