"Father, that cannot be," says she. "It would put us to shame. Rather I will take it in hand;" and again she looked at me.
There was no escape.
"It is a duty which naturally falls to me," said I, not with the best grace in the world.
"Nay," said she, "we cannot admit of duties in our guests. It must be a pleasure to you before we allow you to undertake it."
"Then it will be a pleasure," I agreed lamely.
"We will endeavour to make it one," she replied, with a malicious nod of the head.
I tried, you may be sure, to defer this chase for an owl which I knew did not exist, and hoped by talking very volubly upon other topics to drive the thought of it from their minds, and to that end lingered over my breakfast, even after the rest had for some while finished. But the moment we did rise from the table: "There is no time like present," hinted Dorothy, plainly; and Mr. Curwen warmly seconding her—for he began to show something of excitement, like a child when some new distraction is offered to it—I fetched the ladder from an outhouse and reared it against the wall of Applegarth, at a spot she pointed out close to my window. Accordingly I mounted, the while Mr. Curwen and his daughter remained at the foot—he quite elated, she very sedate and serious. But no sooner had I reached the topmost rungs, than Dorothy discovers the nest a good twenty feet away; and I must needs descend, like the merest fool, shift the ladder, and mount again. And when once more I was at the top, she discovers it at a third place, and so on through the morning. I know not how many times I ran up and down that accursed ladder, but my knees ached until I thought they would break. Once or twice I stopped, as if I would have no more of it, whereupon she covered me with the tenderest apologies and regrets.
"But it is a farce," said I, laughing in spite of myself.
"Of course you are very tired," said she, reproachfully. "It is a shame that I should put you to so much trouble;" and she pops her foot upon the lowest rung of the ladder. So there was no other course, but up I must go again, until at last she was satisfied, and I beaten with fatigue.
"It is a strange thing," said Mr. Curwen, scratching his forehead, "that we cannot discover it."