"Have you lost anything?"
"Yes!" said Mr. Crow. "I've lost my name. And I don't want to find it
again, either."
What he was really doing was this: He was peering about to see whether
anybody might be listening.
Jasper Jay's mouth fell open--he was so astonished.
"Why, what do you mean, Cousin--"
Mr. Crow stopped him again.
"Don't call me that!" he said severely. "I'm known here as 'Mr. Crow.'
And I'll thank you to call me by that name and no other."
That astonished Jasper Jay all the more, because he had never known Mr.
Crow to thank anybody for anything.
"Well, well!" he murmured faintly. And then it was Mr. Crow's turn to be
surprised, for he had never before heard his cousin Jasper speak in
anything but the loudest scream.
Then Mr. Crow explained that he had never liked the name his parents had
given him and that he wanted nobody in Pleasant Valley to learn what it
was.
"You must promise me," said Mr. Crow--and there was a dangerous glitter
in his eye--"you must promise me that you'll never speak my name again."
"Why, certainly!" Jasper Jay replied. "I'm glad to oblige you, I'm sure.
And I promise that I'll never, never, never again mention your name
aloud, Cousin Jim.
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