And meantime, Lance was crowing like a cock, and the other boys were
laughing at Robina for her utter ignorance of the white-fleshed biped
she was eating.
'No, Clem, chickens have got feathers and wings, and their long necks
hang down! This can't be one of them.'
'Perhaps it is a robin-redbreast,' said Felix.
'No, nobody kills robin-redbreasts, because they covered the poor
little children with leaves.'
'Will you cover me with leaves, if I am lost, Bobbie?' said Mr.
Audley; but as soon as she found that his attention was gained, she
returned to the charge.
'Please, did it come from your own home? and what is it, really?'
'Why, Bobbie, I am hardly prepared to say whether it is a Hamburg or
a Houdan, or a more unambitious Dorking. Cannot you eat in comfort
without being certified?'
'The species will be enough for her without the varieties,' said her
father. 'You have given us a new experience, you see, Audley, and we
may make a curious study of contrasts--not of Audley and myself
Mother dear, but of the two Underwoods who seem to be in this place
together to-day.'
'Who is it?' was of course the cry, and the inquiry was in Mrs.
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