CHAPTER XXI.
HOW AGNES LIKED BEING A BIRD.

UT Willie began to think whether he might

not give Agnes two surprises out of it, with

a dream into the bargain, and thought over it until
he saw how he could manage it.

She always went to bed at seven o’clock, so that
by the time the other people in the house began
to think of retiring, she was generally fast asleep.
About ten o’clock, therefore, the next night, just as
a great round moon was peering above the horizon,
with a quantity of mackerel clouds ready to receive
her when she rose a yard or two higher, Willie,
taking a soft shawl of his mother’s, went into
Agnes’s room, and having wrapped her in the shawl,
with a corner of it over her head and face, carried
her out into the garden, down to the trees, and up
the stair into the midst of the great boughs and
branches of the elm tree. It was a very warm
night, with a soft breath of south wind blowing,
and there was no risk of her taking cold. He
uncovered her face, but did not wake her, leaving