mused at the transaction as it was in his nature to be at anything.

Margaret kept pace with Ted, every now and then uttering lamentations
over her favourite.

"He were as good a gander as a body need wish for; wonderful good
breed he were, an' as knowin'! Eh, dear, I never wanted for coompany
when Victoria were theer."

"Victoria!" ejaculated Ted, stopping short and facing her; "why,
that's a female name!"

"It's the Queen's name," rejoined Margaret, with a certain melancholy
triumph.

"I thought it had been a gander; it _is_ a gander, surely?"

"Oh, it's a gander reet 'nough. But I thought it were a goose to begin
wi'. It were the biggest o' th' clutch, an' the prattiest, an' so I
called it Victoria, an' it geet to know th' name, an' to coom when I
called it--eh, it 'ud coom runnin' up an' croodle down aside o' me,
turnin' its yead o' one side that knowin'! Eh, dear, theer never was
sich a bird. An' when it were upgrown, an' turned out to be a gander,
I 'adn't it i' my 'eart to change th' name, seein' as it had getten to
know it so well, an' arter all, seein' as it's th' head of all th'
fowls i' my place, it doesn't seem to coom amiss. Canon, he wanted me
to call it Prince Consort, or else Albert Edward, but it didn't seem
natural like, an' I've allus been used to call my white drake Albert
Edward; and Prince Consort, he's th' owd rooster."

"Well," said Ted, hoisting up the gander again under his arm, and
chuckling as he walked forward, "well, that beats all! I never heerd
sich a tale i' my life. Coom, Victoria, howd up, owd lad; we'se soon
be theer now. An' so th' owd rooster is Prince Consort? An' the
drake's th' Prince o' Wales? Ho, ho! Have ye getten any more royalties
yonder?"

"I've used up pretty near all th' royal fam'ly," replied Margaret,
with a recurrence of her former dolorous pride; "it's the only mark o'
respect as I can show my sovering. Every time Her Gracious Majesty
gets a new grandchild or great-grandchild, Canon, he cooms an' says,
'Margaret, have you any more chickens as wants names?' An' soomtimes
the one christening 'ull do for a whole brood; they royal childer has
sich a mony names, ye know."

Ted sneered and looked immensely superior; the loyalty of this
benighted woman filled his Radical mind with as much contempt as
amusement. He was about to utter some scathing remark, when his
attention was diverted by their arrival at Margaret's cottage.

Throwing open the little wicket-gate