After London | Page 3

carriage
with her children.
After whispering a few words to the boy, to tell him how to reach the
villa, Alfred joined his mother and sister, and with tooting of horns they
proceeded on their journey in high spirits.
CHAPTER II
APPRENTICESHIP
The little stable-boy, Michael Warden, hurried on to his sick father. It
was late, and the journey would take him two hours. On his way he
stopped to buy a few delicacies for his father with the coins the
Duchess had given him. To his surprise, he found on arrival that his
father was very much improved.
Before daybreak on the following morning, Michael hurried to the
woods to find the nightingale's nest he knew so well. When he had last
visited it, he had seen five brownish-green eggs there. But as he now
peered into it he found, to his great astonishment, that the young birds
had broken through their shells. With all haste he set out for the villa,

several miles distant, to study the situation and decide where he could
best fasten the nest. Arriving there, he found a suitable place, and then
hurried back to the woods.
In the course of a few days, he succeeded in caging the parent birds.
Placing the nest beside them in the cage, he carried it to the garden of
the Duchess. He arrived there toward evening, and was hospitably
received by the gardener, who had been fully acquainted with the idea.
Adjoining the villa was a large tract of land, well wooded, which was
beautifully laid out with garden plots, pebbly, shaded paths,
vine-covered bowers and rustic seats. In one corner of the garden there
stood an odd little thatch-covered arbor, nestling between high rocks in
the shadow of the tall trees. A brook which fell in foaming whiteness
flowed past this little nook, clear as crystal, and made the stillness
fascinating by its intermittent murmuring. This spot the Duchess loved
well, and many hours of the day she spent here.
Scarcely a hundred feet distant, there stood a willow tree closely
resembling the late home of the caged nightingales. The boy had
chosen this tree and had prepared a place for the nest on a forked
branch. He went there late one evening, as the moon was shining
brightly, and placed the nest securely on this tree; then he gave the
parent birds their freedom.
The next morning, the boy returned to the spot and hid himself in the
thick shrubbery, to see whether the birds would feed their young, who
were loudly crying for food. In a little while the parent birds returned
and fed them.
"Now I have triumphed," said Michael; and he hurried to the villa to
carry to Alfred the welcome news that in a few days the nightingales
would be singing their song in his garden.
"Fine," said Alfred, "and then the money will be yours. Stay a few days
longer and you can take it with you."
Two days later, the Duchess invited her friends to a lawn-party. The

sun had risen in all its glory, the sky was unclouded, and the breezes
were light and refreshing. The garden, with all its natural beauty,
afforded a most entrancing spot for the feast, which proved perfect in
every detail and was enjoyed in full measure.
After the guests had departed, the Duchess said to her children, "Let us
spend this delightful twilight hour here in quiet. My soul is satisfied;
for what can compare with this blessed evening hour? What
comparison can there be between the grandeur of our salon and the
beauty of nature?"
Just then the nightingale broke the stillness with its ecstatic song. The
Duchess was surprised, and listened intently until the song was ended.
"I wonder how this nightingale came to my garden. The oldest residents
cannot remember ever having heard one in this region."
"Dear mother," said Alfred, "you often wished that a nightingale would
lend its song and its presence to grace this beautiful spot. The same boy
who assisted us out of a difficulty recently, helped me gratify your wish.
You remember, dear mother, that you said at that time: 'I would give
twenty pounds to have a nightingale in my garden.' That boy has helped
us please you, and we have paid him half this amount out of our
savings. The boy is worthy of the money, and it may be the foundation
of his future success."
"You have acted nobly," said the Duchess. "I am transported with
ecstasy at hearing the nightingale sing for the first time in my garden,
and also at the love which you have shown for your mother. It moves
me still more, however, when I think that my children possess a heart
big enough to part with money intended