SHELLFISH TALK

THE next morning, although I had gone to bed so late the night
before, I was up frightfully early. The first sparrows were just
beginning to chirp sleepily on the slates outside my attic window
when I jumped out of bed and scrambled into my clothes.

I could hardly wait to get back to the little house with the big
garden--to see the Doctor and his private zoo. For the first time
in my life I forgot all about breakfast; and creeping down the
stairs on tip-toe, so as not to wake my mother and father, I
opened the front door and popped out into the empty, silent
street.

When I got to the Doctor's gate I suddenly thought that perhaps
it was too early to call on any one: and I began to wonder if
the Doctor would be up yet. I looked into the garden. No one
seemed to be about. So I opened the gate quietly and went inside.

As I turned to the left to go down a path between some hedges, I
heard a voice quite close to me say,

"Good morning. How early you are!"

I turned around, and there, sitting on the top of a privet hedge,
was the gray parrot, Polynesia.

"Good morning," I said. "I suppose I am rather early. Is the
Doctor still in bed?"