The House of The Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne Chapter 10 Page 20

the sideways turn of her head, and the cock of her eye, as she pried into one and another nook of the garden, — croaking to herself, all the while, with inexpressible complacency, — it was made evident that this identical hen, much as mankind undervalued her, carried something about her person the worth of which was not to be estimated either in gold or precious stones. Shortly after, there was a prodigious cackling and gratulation of Chanticleer and all his family, including the wizened chicken, who appeared to understand the matter quite as well as did his sire, his mother, or his aunt. That afternoon Phoebe found a diminutive egg, — not in the regular nest, it was far too precious to be trusted there, — but cunningly hidden under the currant-bushes, on some dry stalks of last year’s grass.