But Tiny took a pencil, and wrote to Baby on scribbling paper, _Come quicks-you-can see cosy cottage I have bought a bargain to put you in and don't bring mother unless you mustn't come without, because of long walks so tirin for her._ Then he ran down the Hill, and across the Bridge, and into the Wood, and called, "Cooey! Cooey!" Then Cooey came from his fir, with splashing wings; and Tiny tied the writing beneath his wing, and said, "Baby," and pointed. So Cooey flashed away through the wood: for Cooey takes all the quick messages in That Country. Then Tiny trotted back to the Fort, and took off his red coat, and put on his sailor suit, and went for a ride on the Common on Goliath, with the dear old Colonel, who thought nice of everybody, in the other pannier. But the Commander-in-Chief stood at the window in the Castle-tower, and looked down darkly. [Illustration: Book II headpiece] BOOK II.--TINY MARRIES BABY 6 So Cooey sped with the writing to where Baby was. And Baby lived with her mother in the Hall under elms. And she was in the garden in gauntlets messing, when Cooey fluttered down about her head. And when Baby heard him, she stood up, and held out her wrist, calling, "Something for me, Cooey?" And she pulled off her gauntlets, and took the writing from under Cooey's wing, as he perched, and read it, while Cooey sidled and fluttered, till he came to her shoulder. And there he laid his bill against her cheek, and began to love her, very murmury. But Baby, when she had read the writing, skipped, and cried, "Three cheers!" and ran in to her mother, who sat with her back turned in a room with great windows and a shiny floor, and wrote round, chuckling. Then Baby poked in and cried, "Good-bye, mum. I am going to see Cosy Cottage that Tiny has taken to keep me in. And we will be alone by ourselves together, Tiny and me, till nightfall. Then p'r'aps I come home." But when Baby's mother, who was round and jolly, heard that, she went thin all over, and she turned round from her writing, and cried, "Oh, Baby, _please_!" So they sat down and argued. And Baby, who always wanted to know, said, "Why?" Then Baby's mother answered with her foot down, "Because of mustn't be alone by yourselves together yet, you and Tiny!" But Baby, who _would_ argue, only said, very dogged, "Why?" So Baby's mother said twelve times, "Because of things." Then Baby turned in her toes, and inside she said, "Rot!" but outside she said nothing. And when Baby's mother, who was quite pale on account of it all, saw that, she said, "In my young days," which was a very favourite saying of Baby's mother. But Baby only turned in her toes till her feet were almost straight sideways, for she had heard _that_ before. So Baby's mother, when she saw that, said nothing, and just folded her hands instead: for she knew what Baby's toes meant. But Baby, directly she saw her mother's hands, began to unturn her toes, and she said,