"They came from the nest with considerable noise, such as all youngsters make, and no sooner did she hear the first peep than Mrs. Pea-Hen turned around like a flash, looking at first one and then another until she had seen the whole brood.
"'Why, they are nothing but ordinary chickens!' she cried, and off she walked, paying no heed to the poor little things when they called after her for something to eat.
"'Are you going away and leave those dear little babies with no one to care for them?' Mamma Speckle asked angrily, and Mrs. Pea-Hen replied, as if to say she didn't allow any one to meddle with her family affairs:
"'Of course I am! Do you suppose a fowl of my standing in society would spend her time looking after a lot of common chickens?'
"'But they'll starve to death!' Mamma Speckle cried, as if she was almost heart-broken.
"'That's no concern of mine. Mr. Man made me believe they were my own eggs, else I'd never sat on them a single hour,' Mrs. Pea-Hen said, as she kept on walking away with never a look at the poor little babies, and Mamma Speckle called after her:
"'You was so crazy to set that you would have tried to hatch out a nest full of stones, if you couldn't have found anything better!'
"Mrs. Pea-Hen tried to act as if she didn't hear what Mamma Speckle said; but she couldn't help it, for you know how loud the speckled hen talks. She never paid any attention to the babies, though, and the other fowls took care of them as best they could with babies of their own."