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'Good-bye, then, my dears. My love to your mamma, and the next time you come I hope Poll-parrot will be more friendly.' |
And then I shut the door with a bang, to sound as if we had gone, though, of course, it was all 'acting,' to trick the parrot. Peterkin and I peeped out at him from behind the curtain, and we could scarcely help laughing out loud. He looked so queer -- his head cocked on one side, listening, his eyes blinking; he seeme... |
Then Mrs. Wylie stepped out again. |
'Polly,' she said, 'I'm ashamed of you. Why couldn't you be kind and friendly to those nice boys who came to see you?' |
'Pretty Poll,' he said, in a coaxing tone. |
'No,' she replied; 'not pretty Poll at all. Ugly Poll, I should say.' |
'Polly's so tired; take Polly in. Polly's cold,' he said, in what we called his natural voice; and then it seemed as if the first words had reminded him of the little girl, for his tone suddenly changed, and he began again: 'I'm so tired, Nana. No, I won't be good; no, I won't. I'll write a letter, and I won't be locke... |
'Nonsense!' said Mrs. Wylie. 'You are not tired or cold, Polly, and nobody is going to lock you up.' |
He was silent for a moment, and peeping out again, we saw that he was staring hard at the old lady. |
Then he said very meekly -- I am not sure which voice it was in -- |
'Polly be good! Polly very sorry!' |
Mrs. Wylie nodded approvingly. |
'Yes,' she said, 'that's a much prettier way to talk. Now, supposing we have a little music,' and she began to sing in a very soft, very thin, old voice a few words of 'Home, Sweet Home.' |
There was something very piteous about it. I think there is a better word than 'piteous' -- yes, Clement had just told it me. It is 'pathetic.' I felt as if it nearly made me cry, and so did Peterkin. We told each other so afterwards, and though we were so interested in the parrot and in hearing him, I wished he would ... |
And when it was over, there came another voice. It was the maid next door, who had stepped quietly on to the balcony -- |
'I'm afraid, ma'am, I must take him in now,' she said, very respectfully. 'It is getting cold, and it would never do for him to get a sore throat just as he's learning to sing so. You are clever with him, ma'am; you are, indeed: there's quite a tune in his voice.' |
Mrs. Wylie gave a little laugh of pleasure. |
'And did the young gentlemen you were speaking of never come, after all?' the maid asked, as she was turning away, the big cage in her hand. |
'Oh yes,' said Mrs. Wylie, 'they are here still. But Polly was very naughty,' and she explained about it. |
'He's learnt that "won't be good" from next door,' said the girl, 'and I do believe he knows what it means.' |
'I very sorry; I be good,' here said the parrot. |
They both started. |
'Upon my word!' exclaimed the maid. |
'Has he learnt that from next door?' said Mrs. Wylie, in a lower voice. |
'I hope so. It's very clever of him, and it's not unlikely. The child is getting better, I believe, and there's not near so much crying and complaining.' |
'So I have heard,' said the old lady, and we fancied she spoke rather mysteriously, 'and I hope,' she went on, but we could not catch her next words, as she dropped her voice, evidently not wishing us to hear. |
Peterkin squeezed my hand, and I understood. There was a mystery of some kind! |
Then Mrs. Wylie came in and shut the glass door. She was smiling now with pleasure and satisfaction. |
'I did get him to talk, did I not?' she said. 'He is a funny bird. By degrees I hope he will grow quite friendly with you too.' |
I did not feel very sure about it. |
'I'm afraid,' I said, 'that he will not see us enough for that. It isn't like you, Mrs. Wylie, for I daresay you talk to him every day.' |
'Yes,' she replied, 'I do now. I have felt more interested in him since -- ' here she hesitated a little, then she went on again -- 'since the evening I found Peterkin listening to him,' and she smiled very kindly at Pete. 'Before that, I had not noticed him very much; at least, I had not made friends with him. But he ... |
This was very interesting, but what Peterkin and I were really longing for was some news of the little girl. We did not like to ask about her. It would have seemed rather forward and inquisitive, as the old lady did not mention her at all. We felt that she had some reason for it, and of course, though we could not have... |
'Now,' said our old lady, 'I fancy tea will be quite ready. I thought it would be more comfortable in the dining-room. So shall we go downstairs?' |
We were quite ready, and we followed her very willingly. The dining-room was even smaller than the drawing-room, and that was tiny enough. But it was all so neat and pretty, and what you'd call 'old-fashioned,' I suppose. It reminded me of a doll-house belonging to one of our grandmothers -- mamma's mother, who had kep... |
The tea was very jolly. There were buns and cakes, and awfully good sandwiches. I remember that particular tea, you see, though we went to Mrs. Wylie's often after that, because it was the first time. The cups were rather small, but it didn't matter, for as soon as ever one was empty she offered us more. I would really... |
And Mrs. Wylie was very interesting to talk to. She had never had any children of her own, she told us, and her husband had been dead a long time. I think he had been a sailor, for she had lots of curiosities: queer shells, all beautifully arranged in a cabinet, and a book full of pressed and dried seaweed, and stuffed... |
Once or twice -- I'm going back now to that first time we went to have tea with her -- I tried to get the talk back to the little girl. I asked the old lady if she wouldn't like to have a parrot of her own. I thought it would be so amusing. But she said No; she didn't think she would care to have one. The one next door... |
And then Peterkin asked her if there were any children next door. Mrs. Wylie shook her head. |
'No,' she said. 'The parrot's mistress is an old maid -- not nearly as old as I am, all the same, but she lives quite alone; and on the other side there are two brothers and a sister, quite young, unmarried people.' |
'And is the -- the little girl the only little girl or boy in her house?' asked Peterkin. |
He did stumble a bit over asking it, for it had been very plain that Mrs. Wylie did not want to speak about her; but I got quite hot when I heard him, and if we had been on the same side of the table, or if his legs had been as long as they are now, I'd have given him a good kick to shut him up. |
Our old lady was too good-natured to mind; still, there was something in her manner when she answered that stopped any more questions from Pete. |
'Yes,' she said, 'there are no other children in that house, or in the terrace, except some very tiny ones, almost babies, at the other end. I see them pass in their perambulators, dear little things.' |
It was quite dark by the time we had finished tea, and the lamps were lighted upstairs in the drawing-room, where Mrs. Wylie showed us some of the curiosities and things that I have already written about. |
They were rather interesting, but I think we've got to care more for collections and treasures like that, now, than we did then. Perhaps we were not quite old enough, and, I daresay, it was a good deal that the great reason we liked to go to Mrs. Wylie's was because of the parrot and the mysterious little girl. At leas... |
So when the clock struck six, and Mrs. Wylie asked us if mamma had fixed any time for us to be home by -- it wasn't that she wanted to get rid of us, but she was very afraid of keeping us too late -- we thought we might as well go, for mamma had said, 'soon after six.' |
'Is any one coming to fetch you?' Mrs. Wylie said. |
I didn't quite like her asking that: it made me seem so babyish. I was quite old enough to look after Pete, and the fun of going home by ourselves through the lighted-up streets was one of the things we had looked forward to. |
But I didn't want Master Peterkin to begin at me afterwards about not being polite, so I didn't show that I was at all vexed. I just said -- |
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