Page:Cornelia Meigs--The Pool of Stars.djvu/25

 simple statement had, for Miss Miranda's face turned suddenly white and she looked toward the door with startled, frightened eyes. Her smile, when she saw who it was, seemed as bright with relief as it was with welcome.

"I think your crow has carried the spectacles up into that apple tree," announced Elizabeth, who had been watching the black thief and now saw him rocking on a high bough, cawing his triumph. "I can climb up and get them for you."

She dropped her school books on the step and ran across the grass quite forgetting to explain who she was or why she had come.

The branches of the tree were so low that the climb was no difficult one for a person as agile as Betsey. The wicked Dick fluttered about her head, rasping out his harsh protests, as she clambered higher and higher, but he had wedged his prize so firmly in a crotch that he could not get it out and was forced to see her carry it away. He was too well-trained a pet to attempt to peck her, but he sat on the wall and voiced his loud displeasure long after she had disappeared into the house.

The old gentleman put on the spectacles and returned to his work very placidly, as though such robberies were too frequent for comment. Miss Miranda led Elizabeth away toward her own little sitting room above her father's workshop.