“I don’t⁠—” protested the schoolmaster gravely. “I don’t quite know what you mean by ‘souls’; but if you mean what’s most essential to them⁠ ⁠… colour⁠ ⁠… scent⁠ ⁠… expression⁠ ⁠… appearance⁠ ⁠… yes, it’s certainly on the outside!”

“I don’t understand, Darnley,” threw in Mrs. Otter, with a face full of nervous concern, “how you can talk like that! We’ve been taught⁠ ⁠… haven’t we⁠ ⁠… ?” She broke off and looked appealingly at her eldest son. “What do you think about it, Jason?”

But Olwen, who had been keeping up a surreptitious dialogue with Jason during the whole of teatime, raised her voice at this.

“ He knows about it, because he’s a tree himself⁠ ⁠… aren’t you, Jason? And I know about it, because I’m a bird in a tree!”