Page 31 - Fairbrass

You can hear as well as the best of them,

and though your father and mother and
brothers and sisters do not know it, the

trees and flowers and animals, and the birds
and insects do ■ and as they feel sure you

will never tell their secrets, we all talk to
you, and you are permitted to talk to us/

4 Y es/said Fairbrass- 'and you are all
more good to me than words can say ; but

you cannot tell me all f want to know.
Why are my father and mother always so

sad ? They love one another, they love my
brothers and sisters, and they love me ; and

yet they always seem anxious and troubled/
i We know— we know ! ’ sighed the

Poplars, 'for we hear them talk at night.
We do not quite understand all they say;

but there is something called business that
makes your father unhappy, and by talking

to her about it he makes your mother
unhappy, too/

‘ Business?’ said Fairbrass. * Oh yes,
I know 1—that’s where my father goes

(though I don't know why) every day.