"'No,' she says, 'you must go, it might be a man.' "'No,' I says, 'it ain't nothing of such consekince as that. It's only an old woman come to borrow some castor oil.' "So she went and bimeby comes back and says: 'It's a man that's called to see you an' it's very important.' "'Tell him I'm in bed,' says I, 'and can't get up till six o'clock.' "Well, after a lot of grumbling, she went again, then came back and says the man won't go away till he seen me, as it's very important. 'Something about a bird,' she says. "'A bird!' I says, 'what d'you mean by a bird?' "'A rook!' she says. "'A rook!' says I. 'Is he a madman, or what?' "'He's a man at the door,' she says, 'an' he won't go away till he sees you, so you'd better git up and see him.' "'All right, old woman,' I says, 'I'll git up as you say I must, and I'll smash him. Get me something to put on,' I says. "'No,' she says, 'don't smash him'; and she give me something to put on, weskit and trousers, so I put on the weskit and got one foot in a slipper, and went out to him with the trousers in my hand. And there he was at the door, sure enough, a tramp! "'Now, my man,' says I, very severe-like, 'what's this something important you've got me out of bed at four of the morning for? Is it the end of the world, or what?' "He looked at me quite calm and said it was something important but not that--not the end of the world. 'I'm sorry to disturb you,' he says, 'but women don't understand things properly,' he says, 'an' I always think it best to speak to a man.' "'That's all very well,' I says, 'but how long do you intend to keep me here with nothing but this on?' "'I'm just coming to it,' he says, not a bit put out. 'It's like this,' he says. 'I'm from the north--Newcastle way--an' on my way to Dorchester, looking for work,' he says. "'Yes, I see you are!' says I, looking him up and down, fierce-like. "'Last evening,' he says, 'I come to a wood about a mile from this 'ere village, and I says to myself, "I'll stay here and go on in the morning." So I began looking about and found some fern and cut an armful and made a bed under a oak-tree. I slep' there till about three this morning. When I opened my eyes, what should I see but a bird sitting on the ground close to me? I no sooner see it than I says to myself, "That bird is as good as a breakfast," I says. So I just put out my hand and copped it. And here it is!' And out he pulled a bird from under his coat. "'That's a young jackdaw,' I says. "'You may call it a jackdaw if you like,' says he; 'but what I want you to understand is that it ain't no ornary bird. It's a bird,' he says, 'that'll do you hansom and you'll be proud to have, and I've called here to make you a present of it. All I want is a bit of bread, a pinch of tea, and some sugar to make my breakfast in an hour's time when I git to some cottage by the road where they got a fire lighted,' he says.