after thee yesterday. He'll be at it again to-day.
He'll be bound to find out what th' skippin'-rope
is. He's never seen one. Eh!" shaking his head
at the bird, "tha' curosity will be th' death of thee
sometime if tha' doesn't look sharp."

Mary skipped round all the gardens and round
the orchard, resting every few minutes. At length
she went to her own special walk and made up
her mind to try if she could skip the whole length
of it. It was a good long skip and she began
slowly, but before she had gone half-way down
the path she was so hot and breathless that she
was obliged to stop. She did not mind much,
because she had already counted up to thirty. She
stopped with a little laugh of pleasure, and there,
lo and behold, was the robin swaying on a long
branch of ivy. He had followed her and he
greeted her with a chirp. As Mary had skipped
toward him she felt something heavy in her pocket
strike against her at each jump, and when she saw
the robin she laughed again.

"You showed me where the key was yesterday,"
she said. "You ought to show me the door to-day;
but I don't believe you know!"

The robin flew from his swinging spray of ivy
on to the top of the wall and he opened his beak
and sang a loud, lovely trill, merely to show off.
Nothing in the world is quite as adorably lovely

[[94]]

p093 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p094w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p095

v?