that Elizabeth had said, but added, "For my part, I don't believe a
word of it!"

"And why not?" exclaimed John, sharply, "Elizabeth is quite right!
Nothing steals like a magpie. Everybody says so. Come! let us to
work! A ladder, a cord, and a long stick! Down with the nest!--Papa,
will you allow me to climb the tree!"

_Lucy._--(Holding John by the arm.)--"Brother, how _can_
you think of it? The elm is more than eighty feet high! Papa, I beg
of you, not to allow it."

_Father_.--(Calmly.)--"No one shall get up the tree and risk
his life, for a thing which certainly is not there."

"There is no thief like a magpie," repeated John, looking at the
nest, which might be seen through the higher branches of the tree;
"but I confess it would not be easy to reach it. These branches are
very long and very slender!"

William, who had said nothing as yet, but had been walking backwards
and forwards, with his head down, and his hands in his pockets,
turned suddenly round to Mary, and said, "I have been thinking we can
soon know if your knife is in the nest. We only want a polemoscope
for that. Hurrah! long live optics!"

"A lemoscope!" said Lucy, "What is that? Is it a long hook?"

_William_.--(Smiling rather contemptuously.) "Poor sister! What
ignorance!"