112 Fairy Tales

Agrippa went on purring, and closing his
eyes.

“And pray what may your name be?”
he asked at last.

‘“Love-in-a-mist,’ said the elf, in a
tremendous hurry, and then he looked
angrily round, for a little teasing twitter
of ‘“ Devil-in-the-bush, devil-in-the-bush,
devil-in-the-bush!” came rustling out of
the leaves. |

Agrippa cocked one of his ears, but said
nothing, and Dick had taken himself off
to a place where he knew some young
thrushes were learning to fly. The harvest
mouse, having recovered her breath, was
full of bustle, running up and down the
stalk, and every now and then scolding
Rusty. Presently Agrippa stopped purring,
for the fact was he was thinking about the
hawk. He felt sure that he would come
again, and he had quite made up his mind
to kill him. What he most feared was the
sudden swoop of the bird. It is so sudden
that it is almost impossible to guard against