The children laughed aloud and clapped their hands in glee, continuing
to feed him until Paolo declared the bird had had a royal breakfast and
carefully replaced him in the nest.

Then, with Andrea on one side and Maria holding tightly to the other hand,
he led them out of the shed and into the bright sunshine.

They stopped for a moment under the window for a lingering glance upward
while Paolo called their attention to the dry-goods box he had placed on
end for their special convenience.

"By standing on this," he explained, "you can get on a level with the nest
without being dependent on me."

All the morning the children hung around the shed, delighted when there
was an occasional sound from the nest above, and from time to time they
clambered up to whisper soft nothings to the sharp ears of Baby Pigeon.

At noon, when eating their luncheon, they plied the old caretaker with
questions some of which, it must be confessed, taxed all his ingenuity to
answer satisfactorily.

"How long will it be before I can begin to train him?" interrupted Andrea,
on fire with his desire at once to realize his ambition.

Paolo laughed. "One question at a time. I notice some soft down already
beginning to show, so I fancy it will not be many weeks until he can boast
as much in the way of fine clothes as his own father and mother. As for his
training, it's quite too soon to think of that; so, my boy, you will have