"If her words are not the result of a passing impulse," he thought,
"sooner or later she will come to me. Nature, however, tolerates no
fitful, half-hearted scholars, and should she prove one, she will be
contented with Burt's out-of-door fun."

"Miss Amy," remarked Dr. Marvin, vivaciously, "if you will form some of
my tastes you will never suffer from _ennui_. Don't be alarmed; I have
not drugs in my mind. Doctors rarely take their own medicine. You don't
look very strong, and have come back to your native land with the
characteristics of a delicate American girl, rather than the vigor of an
English one. I fear you slighted British beef and mutton. If I were so
officious as to prescribe unasked, I should put you on birds for several
months, morning, noon, and evening. Don't you be officious also, Burt.
It's on the end of your tongue to say that you will shoot them for her. I
had no such commonplace meaning. I meant that Miss Amy should enjoy the
birds in their native haunts, and learn to distinguish the different
varieties by their notes, plumage, and habits. Such recreation would take
her often out-of-doors, and fill every spring and summer day with zest."

"But, Dr. Marvin," cried Amy, "is not the study of ornithology rather a
formidable undertaking?"

"Yes," was the prompt reply. "I sometimes feel as if I could devote
several lifetimes to it. But is it such a formidable thing to begin with
a few of our commonest birds, like the robin or wren, for instance; to
note when they first arrive from their southern sojourn, the comical
scenes of courtship and rivalry in the trees about the door, the building
of their homes, and their housekeeping? I am sorry to say that I find
some of my patients consumed with a gossipy interest in their neighbors'
affairs. If that interest were transferred to the families residing in