Our Aunt Esta was standing just where he had left her. All the laughter was gone from her. But her eyes looked very astonished. Her cheeks were blazing red. Her hair was all gay and rumpled like a sky-terrier's. It seemed somehow to be rather becoming to our Aunt Esta to be kissed by mistake. The Rich Man made a little noise in his throat. Our Aunt Esta looked up. She jumped. The Rich Man fixed his eyes right on her. His eyes were full of twinkles. "Talk about Be-Witchments!" he said. "Talk about--_Be-Witchments_!--I'll be back on Tuesday! What for?--Great Jumping Jehosophats!" he said. "It's enough that I'll be back!" My Father stuck his head and the tip of one battered wing out the wood-shed window. He started to say something. And cocked his ear instead. It was towards the village that he cocked his ear. We all stopped and cocked our ears. It was a funny sound: Clack-Clack-_Clack_! Clack-Clack-_Clack_! Clack-Clack--_Clack_! It was my Mother cantering home across the wooden bridge. It sounded glad. My Father thought of a new way suddenly to escape from his wings! And ran to meet her! THE BLINDED LADY The Blinded Lady lived in a little white cottage by the Mill Dam. She had twenty-seven cats! And a braided rug! And a Chinese cabinet all full of peacock-feather fans! Our Father and Mother took us to see them. It smelt furry. Carol wore his blue suit. Rosalee wore an almost grown-up dress. I wore my new middy blouse. We looked nice. The Blinded Lady looked nice too. She sat in a very little chair in the middle of a very large room. Her skirts were silk and very fat. They fluffed all around her like a pen-wiper. She had on a white lace cap. There were violets in the cap. Her eyes didn't look blinded. We sat on the edge of our chairs. And stared at her. And stared. She didn't mind. All the cats came and purred their sides against our legs. It felt soft and sort of bubbly. The Blinded Lady recited poetry to us. She recited "Gray's Elegy in a Country Churchyard." She recited "The Charge of the Light Brigade." She recited "Bingen on the Rhine." When she got all through reciting poetry she asked us if we knew any. We did. We knew "Onward Christian Soldiers," and "Hey Diddle, Diddle, the Cat and the Fiddle." And Rosalee knew two verses about It was many and many a year ago In a kingdom by the sea, That a maiden lived whom you may know By the name of Annabel Lee. We hoped the Blinded Lady would be pleased. She wasn't! The Blinded Lady said it wasn't nearly enough just to know the first two verses of anything! That you ought to know all the verses of everything! The Blinded Lady said that every baby just as soon as it was born ought to learn every poem that it possibly could so that if it ever grew up and was blinded it would have something to amuse itself with! We promised we would! We asked the Blinded Lady what made her blinded.