The ledger was full of most precise information: date of laying, length of incubation period, number of chicks reaching the first week, second week, fifth week, weight of hen, size of rooster's wattles and so on, all scrawled out in a hand that looked more Chinese than English, the most jagged and sprawling Alex had ever seen. Below these particulars was a series of alpha beta gammas connected by arrows and crosses which denoted the lineage of the breed. Alex's instruction was rapid, for the doctor had to go off to the Rue Ecole de Medecine to hear more speeches with only time for one sip of wine to sustain him through them all. But after the doctor's return that night Alex could see, from the high window in his own room, the now familiar figure crouched on a truly impressive heap of towels, apparently giving its egg hatching powers one final chance before it was replaced in its office by a sure-enough hen.

A knocking at Alex's door roused him at six o'clock the following morning. It was the doctor, dressed and ready for the expedition to the market, and Alex was obliged to prepare himself in haste. The doctor stood about, waiting for Alex to dress, with a show of impatience, and soon they were moving, as quietly as could be, through the still dark hallways, past the bedroom of the patronne, and so into the street. The market was not far and, once there, the doctor's sense of immediacy left him and he fell into a state of harmony with the birds around him. He stroked the hens and they responded with delighted clucks, he gobbled with the turkeys and they at once were all attention, he quacked with the ducks, and cackled with a pair of exceedingly flattered geese. The dawn progressed and it seemed that the doctor would never be done with his ministrations when quite abruptly something broke his revery. It was a fine broody hen, white, with a maternal eye and a striking abundance of feathers in the under region of the abdomen. The doctor, with the air of a man whose professional interests have found scope, drew Alex's attention to those excellences which might otherwise have escaped him: the fine color in comb and wattles, the length and quality of neck and saddle hackles, the firm, wide spread of the toes, and a rare justness in the formation of the ear lappets. All search was ended; he had found his fowl. The purchase was effected and they made their way towards the hotel again, the hen, with whom some sort of communication had been set up, nestling in the doctor's arms.