“We drove many miles, the gentleman asking questions now and then, especially about Mag, but for the most part we were silent. At last I saw the three elms and the spire come in sight, and I had hard work to keep the tears in. I sat with Nelly’s hand in mine, but we said never a word.
“We dropped Nelly at her mother’s cottage, and she was told that she would probably be sent for presently. Then we drove on to Miss Pringle’s, and went straight to the stable-yard; there was no pony, and the grass was growing in the yard. Miss Pringle, I found afterwards, would have no more boys about the place.
“‘Which was your room?’ said the gentleman, and I showed him upstairs.
“‘Stay here till I come for you,’ said he. ‘Can I trust you?’
“He did not wait for an answer, but went away, taking Mag with him. I sat down and looked out at the garden, and at the window where I had jumped out that terrible day, and wondered what was going to happen; and what happened is the last thing I am going to tell you.
“He went round to the front door, and presently came out into the garden, still carrying Mag’s cage. Then he put down the cage on the lawn, leaving its door open. Then he went back into the house, and I could see him and Miss Pringle come and sit at the open window of the parlour. He kept his eye on the cage, and seemed to say little; Miss Pringle looked rather puzzled, I thought, and shook her curls pretty often in a fidgety sort of way.
“Mag sat there in his cage for some time, though the door was wide open, as if he didn’t quite see what it all meant; and I sat at my window, too, as much puzzled as the bird or Miss Pringle.
“At last Mag began to stir a bit; then he came out and looked carefully all round, hopped about a bit, and at last got upon the garden chair, and seemed to be thinking of something, with his head on one side. All of a sudden he gave his long tail a jerk, and uttered a kind of a knowing croak; then he came down from the seat and hopped away towards the flower-bed under the window. The gentleman pulled Miss Pringle behind the curtain when he saw Mag coming, and I couldn’t see her any more; but I should think she must have been more puzzled than ever, poor lady.
“From my window I could see Mag digging away in the earth with his bill just in the corner of the flower-border by the house; and it wasn’t long before he got hold of something, and went off with it in his bill down the garden, as pleased as Punch, and talking about it to himself. And well he might be pleased, for it was the saving of me, and I believe he knew it; bless his old bones down yonder by the hedge!
“As soon as Mag began to hop down the garden I saw my gentleman do just what I had done before him; he jumped straight out of the window, and down came the flowerpots after him. I saw Miss Pringle give a jump from behind the curtain and try to save them; but it was too late, and there she stood in the window wringing her hands, while Mag and the gentleman raced round the garden, over the neat beds and through the rose-bushes, until everything was in such a mess that I can tell you it took me a good long time to tidy it all up early next morning.