"The sort o' birds that eat up pigeons."
"I saw nobody that wanted to eat me up, I assure you."
"There's the difference between you and a real pigeon. The pigeon knows the hawk when she sees it; you don't."
"Do you think the hawks all live in cities?"
"No, I don't," said Mrs. Marx. "They go swoopin' about in the country now and then. I shouldn't a bit wonder to see one come sailin' over our heads one of these fine days. But now, you see, grandma has got you under her wing again." Mrs. Marx was Mrs. Armadale's half-daughter only, and sometimes in company of others called her as her grandchildren did. "How does home look to you, Lois, now you're back in it?"
"Very much as it used to look," Lois answered, smiling.
"The taste ain't somehow taken out o' things? Ha' you got your old appetite for common doin's?"
"I shall try to-morrow. I am going out into the garden to get some peas in."
"Mine is in."
"Not long, aunt Anne? the frost hasn't been long out of the ground."