Oh, how rejoiced was I with the present which had been made me, my joy lasted for at least five minutes; I would let them breed, I would have a house of hawks; yes, that I would--but--and here came the unpleasant idea--suppose they were to fly away, how very annoying! Ah, but, said hope, there's little fear of that; feed them well and they will never fly away, or if they do they will come back, my uncle says so; so sunshine triumphed for a little time.

Then the strangest of all doubts came into my head; I doubted the legality of my tenure of these hawks; how did I come by them?
why, my uncle gave them to me, but how did they come into his possession?
what right had he to them?
after all, they might not be his to give .-- I passed a sleepless night.

The next morning I found that the man who brought the hawks had not departed.

'How came my uncle by these hawks ?' I anxiously inquired.

'They were sent to him from Norway, master, with another pair.' 'And who sent them ?' 'That I don't know, master, but I suppose his honour can tell you.' I was even thinking of scrawling a letter to my uncle to make inquiry on this point, but shame restrained me, and I likewise reflected that it would be impossible for him to give my mind entire satisfaction; it is true he could tell who sent him the hawks, but how was he to know how the hawks came into the possession of those who sent them to him, and by what right they possessed them or the parents of the hawks.