CHAPTER XI
Deceit and Forgiveness
Every morning before breakfast Titus went out to see his pigeons. He really had not time to do much more than look at them, for he was not an early riser. His real work in taking care of them was accomplished in the afternoon, at the close of school.
Bethany had found out about this habit of his of visiting the pigeon loft, and when he left his room in the morning he always found her loitering outside, waiting for an invitation to visit the “dear birds.”
“Come on,” Titus always said, and taking her hand he would run out to the stable.
The pigeons knew her as well as they knew him, and he often allowed her to give them a few handfuls of hemp seed. This seed, being of an oily nature, was not fed continuously to them, but they dearly loved it, and when Bethany stretched out her palms the pigeons flocked round her.
She shivered with delight when she felt their soft necks against her fingers, and she never laughed lest she should frighten them, although Titus, standing in the background, was often convulsed with amusement.
The pigeons, in their anxiety to get the seed, would crowd each other. Then there would be fights. The combatants, withdrawing from the others, would seize each other by the heads and drag each other about, finally coming back to find all the seeds gone. Their rueful faces when they contemplated Bethany’s empty palms were very amusing, and with a foolish air they always listened to the little girl’s gentle reproaches on the subject of quarreling.
Sometimes they had dances. That was their nearest approach to play. If they were particularly hungry when they saw Bethany coming with the hemp seed, they would all flap their wings and dance about her, often lifting themselves off their feet and turning round and round.
Since Dallas had come to Riverport he, too, had formed the habit of going out to see the pigeons, but on the morning of the day on which he was to leave, Titus and Bethany did not find him waiting for them.
“I-I-I don’t expect him,” said Titus. “I hope—I mean, I think—he’s packing. His train leaves in an hour and a half. Come on in, Bethany. I’ll run up and see if I can’t help him.”