her in his jacket andthen laughed and wept by turns in the excess of his joy.
All his jealousies of the night before were forgotten now. All hisdesperate sorrow of the morning and the horror of his dream were gone.What if they were foxes? Mr. Tebrick found that he could be happy withthem. As the weather was hot he lay out there all the night, firstplaying hide and seek with them in the dark till, missing his vixen andthe cubs proving obstreperous, he lay down and was soon asleep.
He was woken up soon after dawn by one of the cubs tugging at hisshoelaces in play. When he sat up he saw two of the cubs standing nearhim on their hind legs, wrestling with each other, the other two wereplaying hide and seek round a tree trunk, and now Angelica let go hislaces and came romping into his arms to kiss him and say "Good morning"to him, then worrying the points of his waistcoat a little shyly afterthe warmth of his embrace.
That moment of awakening was very sweet to him. The freshness of themorning, the scent of everything at the day's rebirth, the first beamsof the sun upon a tree-top near, and a pigeon rising into the airsuddenly, all delighted him. Even the rough scent of the body of the cubin his arms seemed to him delicious.
At that moment all human customs and institutions seemed to him nothingbut folly; for said he, "I would exchange all my life as a man for myhappiness now, and even now I retain almost all of the ridiculousconceptions of a man. The beasts are happier and I will deserve thathappiness as best I can."
After he had looked at the cubs playing merrily, how, with soft stealth,one would creep behind another to bounce out and startle him, a thoughtcame into Mr. Tebrick's head, and that was that these cubs wereinnocent, they were as stainless snow, they could not sin, for God hadcreated them to be thus and they could break none of His commandments.And he fancied also that men sin because they cannot be as the animals.
Presently he got up full of happiness, and began making his way homewhen suddenly he came to a full stop and asked himself: "What is goingto happen to them?"
This question rooted him stockishly in a cold and deadly fear as if hehad seen a snake before him. At last he shook his head and hurried onhis path. Aye, indeed, what would become of his vixen and her children?
This thought put him into such a fever of apprehension that he did hisbest not to think of it any more, but yet it stayed with him all thatday and for weeks after, at the back of his mind, so that he was notcareless in his happiness as before, but as it were trying continuallyto escape his own thoughts.
This made him also anxious to pass all the time he could with his dearSilvia, and, therefore, he began going out to them for more of thedaytime, and then he would sleep the night in the woods also as he haddone that night; and so he passed several weeks, only returning to hishouse occasionally to get himself a fresh provision of food. But after aweek or ten days at the new earth both his vixen and the cubs, too, gota new habit of roaming. For a long while back, as he knew, his vixen hadbeen lying out alone most of the day, and now the cubs were all fordoing the same thing. The earth, in short, had served its purpose andwas now distasteful to them, and they would not enter it unless pressedwith fear.
This new manner of their lives was an added grief to Mr. Tebrick, forsometimes he missed them for hours together, or for the whole day even,and not knowing where they might be was lonely and anxious. Yet hisSilvia was thoughtful for him too and would often send Angelica oranother of the cubs to fetch him to their new lair, or come herself ifshe could spare the time. For now they were all perfectly accustomed tohis presence, and had come to look on him as their natural companion,and although he was in many ways irksome to them by scaring rabbits, yetthey always rejoiced to see him when they had been parted from him. Thisfriendliness of theirs was, you may be sure, the source of most of Mr.Tebrick's happiness at this time. Indeed he lived now for nothing buthis foxes, his love for his vixen had extended itself insensibly toinclude her cubs, and these were now his daily playmates so that he knewthem as well as if they had been his own children. With Selwyn andAngelica indeed he was always happy; and they never so much as when theywere with him. He was not stiff in his behaviour either, but had learntby this time as much from his foxes as they had from him. Indeed neverwas there a more curious alliance than this or one with stranger effectsupon both of the parties.
Mr. Tebrick now could follow after them anywhere and keep up with themtoo, and could go through a wood as silently as a deer. He learnt toconceal himself if ever a labourer passed by so that he was rarely seen,and never but once in their company. But what was most strange of all,he had got a way of going doubled up, often almost on all fours with hishands touching the ground every now and then, particularly when he wentuphill.
He hunted with them too sometimes, chiefly by coming up and scaringrabbits towards where the cubs lay ambushed, so that the bunnies ranstraight into their jaws.
He was useful to them in other ways, climbing up and robbing pigeon'snests for the eggs which they relished exceedingly, or by occasionallydispatching a hedgehog for them so they did not get the prickles intheir mouths. But while on his part he thus altered his conduct, they ontheir side were not behindhand, but learnt a dozen human tricks fromhim that are ordinarily wanting in Reynard's education.
One evening he went to a cottager who had a row of skeps, and bought oneof them, just as it was after the man had smothered the bees. This hecarried to the foxes that they might taste the honey, for he had seenthem dig out wild bees' nests often enough. The skep full was indeed awonderful feast for them, they bit greedily into the heavy scented comb,their jaws were drowned in the sticky flood of sweetness, and theygorged themselves on it without restraint. When they had crunched up thelast morsel they tore the skep in pieces, and for hours afterwards theywere happily employed in licking themselves clean.
That night he slept near their lair, but they left him and went hunting.In the morning when he woke he was quite numb with cold, and faint withhunger. A white mist hung over everything and the wood smelt of autumn.
He got up and stretched his cramped limbs, and then walked homewards.The summer was over and Mr. Tebrick noticed this now for the first timeand was astonished. He reflected that the cubs were fast growing up,they were foxes at all points, and yet when he thought of the time whenthey had been sooty and had blue eyes it seemed to him only yesterday.From that he passed to thinking of the future, asking himself as he haddone once before what would become of his vixen and her children. Beforethe winter he must tempt them into the security of his garden, andfortify it against all the dangers that threatened them.
But though he tried to allay his fear with such resolutions he remaineduneasy all that day. When he went out to them that afternoon he foundonly his wife Silvia there and it was plain to him that she too wasalarmed, but alas, poor creature, she could tell him nothing, only lickhis hands and face, and turn about pricking her ears at every sound.
"Where are your children, Silvia?" he asked her several times, but shewas impatient of his questions, but at last sprang into his arms,flattened herself upon his breast and kissed him gently, so that when hedeparted his heart was lighter because he knew that she still loved him.
That night he slept indoors, but in the morning early he was awoken bythe sound of trotting horses, and running to the window saw a farmerriding by very sprucely dressed. Could they be hunting so soon, hewondered, but presently reassured himself that it could not be a huntalready.
He heard no other sound till eleven o'clock in the morning when suddenlythere was the clamour of hounds giving tongue and not so far offneither. At this Mr. Tebrick ran out of his house distracted and setopen the gates of his garden, but with iron bars and wire at the top sothe huntsmen could not follow. There was silence again; it seems the foxmust have turned away, for there was no other sound of the hunt. Mr.Tebrick was now like one helpless with fear, he dared not go out, yetcould not stay still at home. There was nothing that he could do, yet hewould not admit this, so he busied himself in making holes in thehedges, so that Silvia (or her cub
s) could enter from whatever side shecame. At last he forced himself to go indoors and sit down and drinksome tea. While he was there he fancied he heard the hounds again; itwas but a faint ghostly echo of their music, yet when he ran out of thehouse it was already close at hand in the copse above.
Now it was that poor Mr. Tebrick made his great mistake, for hearing thehounds almost outside the gate he ran to meet them, whereas rightly heshould have run back to the house. As soon as he reached the gate he sawhis wife Silvia coming towards him but very tired with running and justupon her the hounds. The horror of that sight pierced him, for everafterwards he was haunted by those hounds--their eagerness, theirdesperate efforts to gain on her, and their blind lust for her came atodd moments to frighten him all his life. Now he should have run back,though it was already late, but instead he cried out to her, and she ranstraight through the open gate to him. What followed was all over in aflash, but it was seen by many
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