From that he passed to thinking of the future, asking himself as he had
done once before what would become of his vixen and her children. Before
the winter he must tempt them into the security of his garden, and
fortify it against all the dangers that threatened them.

But though he tried to allay his fear with such resolutions he remained
uneasy all that day. When he went out to them that afternoon he found
only his wife Silvia there and it was plain to him that she too was
alarmed, but alas, poor creature, she could tell him nothing, only lick
his hands and face, and turn about pricking her ears at every sound.

"Where are your children, Silvia?" he asked her several times, but she
was impatient of his questions, but at last sprang into his arms,
flattened herself upon his breast and kissed him gently, so that when he
departed his heart was lighter because he knew that she still loved him.

That night he slept indoors, but in the morning early he was awoken by
the sound of trotting horses, and running to the window saw a farmer
riding by very sprucely dressed. Could they be hunting so soon, he
wondered, but presently reassured himself that it could not be a hunt
already.

He heard no other sound till eleven o'clock in the morning when suddenly
there was the clamour of hounds giving tongue and not so far off
neither. At this Mr. Tebrick ran out of his house distracted and set
open the gates of his garden, but with iron bars and wire at the top so
the huntsmen could not follow. There was silence again; it seems the fox
must have turned away, for there was no other sound of the hunt. Mr.
Tebrick was now like one helpless with fear, he dared not go out, yet
could not stay still at home. There was nothing that he could do, yet he