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Show r I I HOW POJiTYEiOloSEDr t - " r "Hi! Hi! All right! All right! Sow "vc shn'n't be long!" ssnid the gray par- . 4 I regret to say that the irrepressible i youug man that brings the dally milk is the tutor of my jirr.ot in the latest I up-to-date slang of the day. Ii' I nm an okl u-cavta'n-at. leaut, no oW, perbapu the word slipped oht ue j aware. 1 am the right side of 50, any Low; but being In receipt of a pension nnd a small private income-to boot, i have cast anchor in my present abode ir . the expectation of weathering many r winter's storm yet. llcing without a known relation in r' tlio world, I willingly fell in with the suggestion that I should pick up my moorings alongside my old friend and j ; ' messmate, Capt. Travers, late V. S., ; -who, having loft one of hio legs on the west coast of Africa while captming a slaver, was pensioned ofE at an even earlier age than myself, and now lived with his sister a moJit comfortable party, fat, fair and 40 or thereabouts in the adjoining house to mine In the fncignuornooa ot London. We had always al-ways got on well together, our tastes nnd dispositions were similar, aud we had of ten mot during our naval careers. His sister I had not previously been nc-J nc-J quaintcd with, but, being In many re- , spects liko her brother, we were soon i firm friends. Capt. Travers and myself had each a j favorite parrot his the common Afri- j can gray, with n red-tipped tail, and ' mine the purer variety, without a trace of color, but otherwise similar. I had not long settled down in my new quarters, and got everything shipshape, ship-shape, or what seemed so to me a very . important difference, as I know to-day ' when, almost unconsciously at first, I began to feel what a lonely old bache- y lor 1 was, and what n set-ofi! to-all my other belongings the figure of Miss Rachel Travers would be by my fire- i side. Hut just here the curse of my life began to make Itself felt. Inherent shyncsb in the presence of the oppc. ite sex has dogged my footsteps from my earliest recollections. Give me a gale of wind in the Bay of Biscay, a tornado hi the. tropics, or 20 hours' duty on deck, wet through to the skin, and Capt. Mnn-f Mnn-f ley, late of the P. and 0. service, will thank you for it, and' consider life well worth living; but ns dispenser of delicate attentions to the fair sex, intensely in-tensely as he inwardly admires their pretty .ways, Capt. Mauley does not, no, lie certainly does not, show up to ad-t ad-t ' vantage. Although fond of pets generally, I ' - have an antipathy to cab, especially at flight. I am not aware that our neighborhood neigh-borhood was particularly beneficial in its aspect or other qualifications to feline constitution, but I know that Willi Wi-lli I was inhuman enough to start an air-gun cannonade on my numerous , nocturnal visitors, I was frequently un able to get a respectable night's rest. One infernal black and white Tom de-lied de-lied my finest efforts. If average cats liuve nine lives, I am sure tills one must have had 19, nnd J, began to wonder what sort of uncanny being this was that had no objection to letting my bullets bul-lets pass apparently through its body without suffering any inconvenience, v Hut after all it must have been my bad marksmanship, for one afternoon I saw my enemy quietly walking up the low fence that divided my back garden from Capt. Travers'. The opportunity was too good to be lost, and quietly getting my air-gun, 1 took a steady aim nnd fired. There was no mistake this time, and without a sound poor puss dropped on to my , Uower-bed as dead us the proverbial door nuil. My exultation, however, was of short duration, for to my horror and dismay, dis-may, on proceeding to pick up his unfortunate un-fortunate carcass and give it decent "burial, I saw that my shot hod passed right through the unlucky nnimnl and killed my neighbor's parrot, which had been put out to sun itself in a little ? fiummer-liouse that stood at the bottom "m of the garden. I was staggered at my position; 1 lenew the parrot was a supreme favorite with Miss Travers, and how I could ever explain my carelessness 1 could not imagine. Suddenly n way out of my dilemma presented itself to my ruin1, and I hastened to put it into execution. 1 knew that the Travers were out, and would not be back for some little time, so hurrying indoors aud taking my own parrot from its cage, I carefully painted tho end of its tall with red. ink in imitation imita-tion of its deceased comrade, and finding find-ing no one was about, I stepped lightly over the fence and substituted the living liv-ing for the dead bird, which I buried, together with the cat, in my own garden. gar-den. I knew Uint my parrot would not readily talk before strangers, and I hoped that by the lime it had got used to its new surroundings, it would have forgotten Us former accomplishments; - rif ti ii mi 1 1 uu i i. i iiiiiiiiiiiiiimi" t)t" i -u j at auyrateri must risk it. Alas'. 'Tucusy lies the hcril iYn w ears a crown," sang some poet, wl-o. I expect, 'never wore anything harder than luiightcap, but, true n it mny bv compared to the torlnre of my irlnd. now la-nehed on a course of duplicity, It wouH bo a bed of roses. It v, : awards the end of the following follow-ing v, :hat 1 happened to be out in the0?4. ". ?!ulsawr.iy okl frhu-deo: e ' tur'v:.' dowr. &'- l"ato (i l:' " " lardttu ".n Va OoM-nd-cury-ore tJtjh-, .unl, cberg mo on ho fence, he eried: "Holloa f contain, you're quite a strange: : t What's been "up.' Rachel . ha been talking about coming in to inquire in-quire about your health, ns Bhe wr, afraid something must be wrong." "Yra, I have been a hit poorly," mild I. Oh! .hnvcaa'-ly the word". -:'ppod out, although-1 hud been an right as ninewmee why that particular sum should bo endued with more rectitude , than its fellows I have never been able to discover this by the way. "A bit of cold, perhaps," said Capt. TravcTs. "Well, come over the fence and have a dish of ten .'n tho summer- house, and Rachel shall come in afterwards after-wards and make, you a good glass oi! something stiff for u night-cap." Punctually at five o'clock I donned my uprucest attire, and with a smart flower hi my button-hole gay dog that I was slipped over tho fence. Mis13 Rnehclwns there, looking as fresh as a spring cabbage with the dew on it, which I consider a very pretty simile, and she bade me welcome with one of her beaming smiles. There, too, wa.i the unlucky parrot in ite cage, and standing just outside the summer-house. summer-house. I had noticed that it had been set out to sun itself us usual on nil flue days, and as far us I could sco nothing had transpired to make me think they had any cause to suspect my imposition. I purposely sat with my back to it. and avoided taking notice of it in any way whatever. Tea went off all right; my old friend was very cheery and Miss Rachel showed me great attention. I could hear Polly rubbing her beak up and down the wires of the cage, and swinging swing-ing backwards and forwards in the metal ring. - i After the meal Capt. Travers went indoors to get his supply of necessaries for the evening, and, turning to me, Miss Travers commenved: "By-tbe-by, Capt. Manley, how is your parrot? I have not seen it out in the garden lately." I felt my heart beating a bit faster, but with every semblance of outward calm, I said: "No-Mhe fact is. it's not been at all well; in fact, it's dead." "Head!" she exclaimed. "Well, 1 never. What did it die of?" "I really don't know," I replied. "It. died quite suddenly about ii week ago." "I hope our Polly isn't going to follow fol-low suit." she continued. "She has been very dull and quiet the last few days, but seems a bit more lively this evening. even-ing. I don't think she has spoken' a word all the week." "Thank goodness!"I Inwnrdly ejaculated. ejacu-lated. Things were beginning to look n bit awkward, and I cast about for something some-thing to change the course of conversation. conversa-tion. I am not a quick thinker, however, how-ever, and before I could collect my wits, Miss Travers continued: "Dear, dear, to think your poor Polly's dead! Well, I am sorry! I sould be sorry to loso you, Polly dear," she said, addressing ad-dressing tho parrot. "But really, Capt. Manley," looking mo straight in tho face, "I can't make our Pollyout. Sometimes I could almost believe she was a different bird. She hasn't once seemed pleased to sco me oil' the week." I felt the blood rapidly rising to my cheeks and forehead, but I trusted to my tanned complexion for it not to show. I feebly replied: "Perhaps she's moulting." It was an unlucky slip. "Well, now I come to think," said Miss Traeru, "1 noticed that its tall looked much paler after its bath the other morning, ami the water was quite red. Is that u sign of moulting?" "Yes, I often used to notice it about my own parrot." '"But I thought your bird had no red about it," she pursued. "Confound the woman's persistence," I thought, but-I stammered: "I mean-that mean-that is to say you see I've noticed it in all red parrots I have ever come across. They shouldn't be bathed ut all, it injures their constitution." "Oh! I thought you recommended it," she said. So I had, dozens of times. "Only for the gray oues,"I said, forming n'con-venient n'con-venient distinction on the spur of the moment. Miss Travers did not seem inclined to pursue the subject further, much to my satisfaction, ind then there was u dead pause. . ' . tmmmmmmmmwmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm,. Durinfj: the whole or our conversation conversa-tion the subject of it hod not ceancti to continue its antics in the v.-irc cape. Whether it. was tho sound of my voice that caused it to bo thus cxc.T.l I Co 1 not know, but at thi3 opportunitj St j burst in with "Hi, hi!" I was getting desjicrate, and could , think of nothing to change the subject : , nnd yet if I didn't say uoinefchiiiR' I , was terribly afraid the parrot would. I A bicycle bell sounded down tin-road. tin-road. , "Arc you thinking of petting: a bicycle, bi-cycle, Miss Tracers ?" 1 said. "So, certainly not," she replied: "how can you ask such a question ?'' Another awful pause, dunnp which I mopped the perspiration from my brow. "Ua Ra Rachel, 1 love you!" came in clear tones from behind my back The wretched bird had caught the ejr-nct ejr-nct tone of my voice. "Capt. Manlcyl Sir!" said Miss Travers, Trav-ers, raising herself to her full five feet one and one-half inches. "Did you address ad-dress that remark to me, sir?" 1 had, however, utterly collapsed, nnd burying my head in my hands, I leaned down on the little round table. Whether Wheth-er the sight of the poor old ship in distress dis-tress touched her tender heart I don't know, but she added, in softer tones: "This is very unexpected, dipt, Mnn-ley." Mnn-ley." I could hold out no longer. "Miss- Rachel," I cried, "I'm n t hindering hin-dering old hpyocrlte. My parrot isn't dead at all; Micro it la in Hint cage; it' yours that's dead; I shot it. 1 didn't mean to. dm you forgive mo for all tho lies I told you?" "All right AH right!" said the sol-cmn sol-cmn voice of the parrot behind me. "It was Polly that made that remark just now, not I; hut, believe me, she speaks the truth, if I don't. Rachel, 1 do really love you." . I ventured to Jook up. Tears were standing in hcrryee, and the expression on her fare rande me hope that I did not ! . I I t look quite tttieh a big booby in her eyes as 1 felt I did in my own. H Moving nearer, I clnapcd her hand. 1 nnd an it was not withdrawn, I put one H nrin gently round her ample wn?st. M "Sow we shan't be long," said the H gray parrot. Tit-Hits. H |