“That’s right,” said Hiram. “He seems to like it very much.”
“Hiram,” said Ralph, again.
“What?” said Hiram.
Ralph hesitated. He seemed to have something on his mind, and not to know exactly how to express it.
“How is the robin this morning? Did he get stifled any by the smoke?”
Restitution. Ralph proposes to get another fox for Hiram.
“No,” said Ralph; “he is as bright as a lark.” Then, after a moment’s pause, he added, “I am sorry I let your Foxy get away. I suppose I ought to pay you for him; and, if I could get another fox for you, I would. I have not got any thing but just my bird. I’ll give you him.”
To find Ralph taking this view of the subject was something so new and strange to Hiram, that at first he did not know what to say.
“No,” he replied, at length, “I would rather not take your bird, though I am very sorry that Foxy has got away. If you had only told me that you wanted your collar, I would have taken it off, and fastened Foxy with something else.”
Ralph hung his head and had nothing to say.