I gave her to him last spring; he's very fond of her, and lets her help herself out of his plate.

And he himself attends to her, puts her out and takes her in, and keeps her in his dining-room, for fear lest she should take cold, as that is the only room of his which is at all warm." Pierre in his turn looked up and saw the bird, one of those pretty little parrots with soft, silky, dull-green plumage.

It was hanging by the beak from a bar of its cage, swinging itself and flapping its wings, all mirth in the bright sunshine.
"Does the bird talk ?" he asked.
"No, she only screams," replied Benedetta, laughing.

"Still my uncle pretends that he understands her." And then the young woman abruptly darted to another subject, as if this mention of her uncle the Cardinal had made her think of the uncle by marriage whom she had in Paris.

"I suppose you have heard from Viscount de la Choue," said she.