"'Tis but little finery the poor maid hath brought with her," answered my uncle, smiling. "Our flight was too secret and sudden for that. But I will walk with you, and we will leave the women to gossip to their heart's content." "As if they would not gossip worse than any women when they get two or three together," said Avice, laughing. "But sit you down, and rest, Loveday. I will but give some orders, and be with you again directly." She set an arm-chair for me as she spoke, and I was not sorry to be left alone a few minutes, for my head was fairly whirling. The room where I sat was wide and high, handsomer than any in Suffolk house, and fairly crowded with carved and inlaid cabinets, damask-covered chairs and little tables. The projecting window was partly veiled by broad white curtains, and just above it was an arrangement of bright mirrors, jointed curiously together, whereof I could not at first perceive the use, but I presently discovered that by it one was enabled to see, without being seen, all that went on in the street. The little square or place before the house was green as emerald, and not a speck or stick was to be seen on its surface, while a pond in the midst gave entertainment to a pair of swans and some white ducks. On the highest chimney of a fine house across the square was a pile of rubbish, at which I was wondering, when I saw a long-legged and long-billed bird alight near it, and begin strutting up and down in a pompous way, that reminded me of the old beadle in our parish church in London. "What is that bird?" I asked of Aunt Joyce, who just then entered the room. "Why 'tis a stork, child. The people here treat them as a kind of sacred animal, and the man who should kill one would be looked upon as a murderer. 'Tis counted a very lucky thing to have a stork's nest on one's house. We have a fine one. 'Tis said that the young birds will carry their old parents on their shoulders, and that the parents will perish in the fire rather than desert their young. Every one is glad to see the storks come back in the spring." "No wonder, if they are such good creatures. But, aunt, are all the people here as neat in their ways as my cousin? The house is so clean, I am almost afraid to move for fear of soiling something."