The swallows under the eaves

An original fiction passage set in the nineteenth century.

Mrs Shaw wanted the nests removed before the house was painted. Droppings marked the window ledge, and the workmen complained that birds flew close to their ladders. Her daughter Alice asked whether they could wait until the young had left. Mrs Shaw said the painters had other houses to attend to; the season could not be arranged around a few swallows.

The workmen set their ladder beneath the largest nest. From an upstairs room, Alice could see the small open mouths inside it. She called her mother to the window instead of arguing from the hall. A parent bird circled the ladder, approached the nest and turned away when a brush rose towards it.

Mrs Shaw watched for several minutes. She asked the foreman whether the lower windows could be painted first. He said the change would cost time. She accepted that, then asked what the extra time would cost in money. While they discussed it, Alice opened another window, allowing them to see the nest from a safer distance.

The upper work was postponed. For a week, Mrs Shaw kept a cloth beside the marked ledge and wiped it each morning. She still complained about the mess. On the day the young birds left, she called Alice upstairs to watch. Afterwards, she sent for the painters, and the empty nest remained beneath the newly painted eaves.

“Mrs Shaw’s change is presented as believable because it does not erase her original concerns.”

Evaluate how successfully the writer presents this idea. Support your judgement with detailed references to the passage.