r. Humpage; 'it's no sight for you; run
away.'

'Then Frisk mustn't look either; come away, Frisk,' and Dolly vanished
again.

When she had gone, the old gentleman said, with a dangerous smile that
showed all his teeth, 'Now, Mr. Lightowler, I think I'm indebted to
you for the abominable treatment of this bird?'

'Somebody's been treating it, it's very plain,' said the other,
looking at the bird, which was making a feeble attempt to spread out
its wings and screech contemptuously at the universe.

'You're equivocating, sir; do you think I can't see that poison has
been laid in your grounds for this unhappy bird?'

'_It's_ 'appy enough; don't you be uneasy, Mr. 'Umpage, there's been
no worse poison given to it than some of my old Glenlivat,' said Mr.
Lightowler; 'and, let me tell you, it's not every man, let alone every
gander, as gets the luck to taste that. My gardener must have laid
some of it down for--for agricultural purposes, and your bird, comin'
in through the 'ole (as you may p'raps remember I've spoke to you
about before), has bin makin' a little too free with it, that's all.
It's welcome as the flowers in May to it, only don't blame me if your
bird is laid up with a bad 'eadache by-and-by, not that there's an
'eadache in the whole cask.'

At this point Mark could not resist a glance at the fair face across
the fence. In spite of her feminine compassion for the bird and
respect for its proprietor, Mabel had not been able to overcome a
sense of the absurdity of the scene, with the two angry old gentlemen
wrangling across the fence over an intoxicated gander; the face Mark
saw was rippling with subdued amusement, and her dark grey eyes met
his for an instant with an electric flash of understanding; then she
turned away with a slight increase of colour in her cheeks. 'I'm going
in, Uncle Anthony,' she said; 'do come, too, as soon as you can; don't
quarrel about it any more--ask them to give you back the poor goose,
and I'll take it into the yard again; it ought to go at once.'

'Let me manage it my own way,' said Mr. Humpage, testily. 'May I
trouble you, Mr. Lightowler, to kindly hand me over that bird--when
you have quite finished with it?' he added.

'That bird has been taking such a fancy to my manure heap that I'll
ask to be excused,' said Mr. Lightowler. 'If you was to whistle to it
now I might 'ead it through the 'ole; but it always finds it a good
deal easier to come through than it does to come