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"I am going to try!" she said. "It will take a long time, my Owls, and you will have to be very patient with me. I shall probably never be wholly domesticated, but--but you will help me, and the Innocent here will help me; won't you, Innocent?"
[Ill.u.s.tration: "'WE FOUR AGAINST THE WORLD!'"]
"Oh, Grace, if I only could? but what can I do? I don't see how I can ever do anything!"
"You began it all!" said Grace. "The way you looked--that night I made you go out, little Peggy. You didn't know, but the face of an Innocent can be a terrible thing, and I saw, and knew--things I hadn't known before. No need of going back to that now. But--Snowy--Samuels says I make an amusing pet in captivity. You'll try me?"
"Won't we!" cried the Snowy Owl. "Grace, dear, we'll all try together.
Oh, we all have to keep trying, don't we, all our lives long? It wouldn't be worth anything if we didn't have to try, to work and fight for it. It shall be we three against the world,--the Snowy, the Fluffy, and the h.o.r.n.y. No, we four, for what should we do without our Peggy? Get up, Peggy, you ridiculous child; stop crying, and come and sit here close by us."
"Oh!" cried Peggy. "Isn't there some kind of Owl that I could be? I am too stupid, of course, but I might be a screech-owl, don't you think so, Snowy?"
Grace held up her hand. "Forbid the thought!" she said, gravely. "Who would get us our mice? We must have a Human Being connected with us. I think of moving into Bedlam, as Colney has a fine a.s.sortment of mice on hand generally. I refuse bats, probably on account of the strong musky odour, but a mouse dragged across the floor of my cage fills me with excitement. Samuels, part of it at least. No, we must have a Human Being in the Owlery, and that Human Being must be the Innocent. We Four against the World, then! Hands on it, my Owls!"
The four girls stood up, and, joining hands, looked in each other's faces. "We Four against the World!" they repeated. "The Snowy, the Fluffy, the h.o.r.n.y, and the Innocent; Hurrah for us!" and the shout they raised brought the whole corridor running to see what was going on.
THE END.
