He shrieked with laughter, until I was convulsed myself to hear
him. Perfectly well he knew what he had done. ' Gard' a toi ! '
he shrieked. ' Cesar ! Je suis Cesar ! ' And then he went off
into shriek after shriek of laughter again. The cage came back,
but it was the very last time that I was asked to give him away
or even to lend him."

" Can he say nothing else ? The one phrase over and over
again must become a little monotonous."

"Nothing else, monsieur?" cried the old man: "why he
talks like a Christian for all he's a demon ; holds long conversa-
tions with me ; chapter and verse ; and what's more, he under-
stands. It's as clear as daylight that he understands. If I'm
at my dinner and don't give him just wliat he likes, he swears

at me till my blood almost freezes ; swears like a Chr that

is, I should say, like a demon : words escape one by accident.
Merci, monsieur," as we slipped a little douceur into the
withered old hand. " Merci : I will drink to your health.
And I assure you that if I don't give a little of it to that bird,
he will let me have no peace. He is quite a judge, too, and the
finer the cognac, the more he likes it. A canard is his great
weakness, but if I give it him before I have put the cognac into
the coffee, he throws down the sugar, flaps his wings, screeches
enough to. take off the roof of your head, and swears horribly.
