They settled down softly upon the grass and
sat there without moving.

"Us mustn't seem as if us was watchin' him too
close," said Dickon. "He'd be out with us for
good if he got th' notion us was interferin' now.
He'll be a good bit different till all this is over.
He's settin' up housekeepin'. He'll be shyer an'
readier to take things ill. He's got no time for
visitin' an' gossipin'. Us must keep still a bit
an' try to look as if us was grass an' trees an'
bushes. Then when he's got used to seein' us I'll
chirp a bit an' he'll know us'll not be in his way."

Mistress Mary was not at all sure that she knew,
as Dickon seemed to, how to try to look like grass
and trees and bushes. But he had said the queer
thing as if it were the simplest and most natural
thing in the world, and she felt it must be quite
easy to him, and indeed she watched him for a few
minutes carefully, wondering if it was possible for
him to quietly turn green and put out branches and
leaves. But he only sat wonderfully still, and
when he spoke dropped his voice to such a softness
that it was curious that she could hear him, but
she could.

"It's part o' th' springtime, this nest-buildin'
is," he said. "I warrant it's been goin' on in th'
same way every year since th' world was begun.

[[199]]

p198 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p199w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p200

v?