Vevi removed Snow White from his wicker cage, gently stroking his glossy feathers.
“He needs exercise,” she remarked. “But if I let him fly free, he might return to Mr. Green’s loft.”
“No chance of that!” teased Jane. “He’d just get lost again.”
Miss Gordon remarked that she did not know what to do about Vevi’s bird. The Brownies soon would be leaving Silver Beach to return to their homes at Rosedale. She did not think Vevi’s mother would want the little girl to bring a carrier pigeon with her.
“We must try to find a good home for the bird,” she declared. “We can’t keep it here at the cottage more than another day. The pigeon shouldn’t be so closely confined. Besides, it needs a warmer place.”
“Couldn’t we keep it inside the cottage?” Vevi suggested. “It would be warm there.”
“No, dear,” Miss Gordon replied firmly. “Captain Tarwell would not want a pigeon flying around in his house. Of that I am certain. If Mr. Green won’t take the bird back, we must find a new home for it or let it go free.”
“A hawk might get him,” Vevi said, close to tears. “I want to keep Snow White.”
Miss Gordon merely shook her head and said no more. Vevi understood though, that when the time came she would have to let the pigeon go.
“Don’t you mind, Snow White,” she whispered to the bird. “I’ll find someone who will want you. I promise.”