"There's a tree struck!" I said; and when we looked round,
after the blinding of the flash had left our eyes, we saw a huge
bough of the beech-tree in which was Diamond's nest hanging to
the ground like the broken wing of a bird.
"There!" cried Nanny; "I told you so. If you had been up
there you see what would have happened, you little silly!"
"No, I don't," said Diamond, and began to sing to Dulcimer.
All I could hear of the song, for the other children were going
on with their chatter, was --
The clock struck one,
And the mouse came down.
Dickery, dickery, dock!
Then there came a blast of wind, and the rain followed in
straight-pouring lines, as if out of a watering-pot. Diamond
jumped up with his little Dulcimer in his arms, and Nanny
caught up the little boy, and they ran for the cottage. Jim
vanished with a double shuffle, and I went into the house.
When I came out again to return home, the clouds were gone,
and the evening sky glimmered through the trees, blue, and
pale-green towards the west, I turned my steps a little aside to
look at the stricken beech. I saw the bough torn from the stem,
and that was all the twilight would allow me to see.
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