And now Drusilla consoled herself for the absence of her husband by thinking of the supper she would prepare for him and share with him in the evening.
“Pina,” she said, as she saw the snow-birds fly away from the window-sill at her slightest motion; “Pina, will I never be able to tame these little creatures by kindness?”
“Oh, yes, ma’am; you may make them so tame that they will come and eat out of your hand.”
“How—how can I do that?”
“By just doing as you do now, ma’am. They will soon find out as you mean them no harm but good, and they will cease to fear you and begin to love you,” answered the girl, as she removed the dinner service.
And Drusilla spent the afternoon as she had spent the morning.
That night Alexander, for a wonder, came home as early as eight o’clock. And the cheerful day was succeeded by a happy evening.
CHAPTER XXII.
DIFFICULTIES OF DECEPTION.
Ah, what a tangled web we weave,
When first we venture to deceive.—Scott.