14.6 ; Make-Beleve

“Down in the worst part of London,
where no flowers could live, even if the
people knew there were such things and
cared to plant them, there lived a man
called Jim Smith. He was wicked, dirty,
and stupid, and I don’t remember anything
about him that is good. But he was the
owner of the bird.

‘“ The fact is, he hated honest work, and
used to get his living by all sorts of irregu-
lar methods. In the spring he sold water-
cresses, and of course he had to go into
the country to get them. Early one morn-
ing he was coming back to the railway
station with a full basket on his back.
There were birds singing and flowers
everywhere—you remember how beautiful
it was last spring—but he did not notice
any of these things. He merely wanted
to get back to London and sell his cresses,
and spend the money wickedly and
stupidly.

“But presently something caught his
eye. It was a big cobweb, and there were