Smiling happily to himself again as the letters grouped themselves
swiftly into these curious sentences, he heard the birds singing in
the clean, great sky... and it seemed to him that the Stranger blew
softly upon his eyes and hair. The sentences instantly telescoped:
"Come, look for me! There is no hurry; life has just begun...." And he
barely had time to realise that the entire complicated mass of them
had, after all, only this one thing to say... when the returning
children bursting into the room scattered his long reverie, and the
last cardboard letter disappeared like magic into empty space.
"Where is he?" cried Tim at once, staring impatiently about him. There
was rebuke and disappointment in his eyes. "Uncle, you've been
arguing. He's gone!"
Judy was equally quick to seize the position of affairs. "You've
frightened him away!" she declared with energy. "Quick! We must go out
and look!"
"Yes," muttered their uncle a little guiltily, and was about to add
something by way of explanation when he felt Judy pull his sleeve.
"Look!" she whispered. "He can't have gone so _very_ far!"
She pointed to the plate with the sugar, honey, cream, and crumbs upon
it; a bird was picking up the crumbs, a wasp was on the lump of sugar,
a bee beside it, standing on its head, was drinking at the drop of
honey; all were unafraid, and very leisurely about it; there seemed no
hurry; there was enough for every one.
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