Thank you, Maggie, says I; but if it is all the same to you, I d
rather have that one I was handling just now.
The other is a good three pound heavier, said she, and we fattened
it expressly for you.
Never mind. I ll have the other, and I ll take it now, said I.
Oh, just as you like, said she, a little huffed. Which is it you
want, then?
That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the
flock.
Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.
Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird all the
way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was a man that it
was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed until he choked, and
we got a knife and opened the goose. My heart turned to water, for
there was no sign of the stone, and I knew that some terrible mistake
had occurred. I left the bird, rushed back to my sister s, and hurried
into the back yard. There was not a bird to be seen there.
Where are they all, Maggie? I cried.
Gone to the dealer s, Jem.
Which dealer s?
Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.
But was there another with a barred tail? I asked, the same as the
one I chose?
Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never tell
them apart.
Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my feet
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