Finally he got lost.
She had put him on the grass to cool him and went away only for a second; when she returned, she found no parrot! She hunted among the bushes, on the bank of the river, and on the roofs, without paying any attention to Madame Aubain who screamed at her: "Take care! you must be insane!" Then she searched every garden in Pont-l'Eveque and stopped the passers-by to inquire of them: "Haven't you perhaps seen my parrot ?" To those who had never seen the parrot, she described him minutely.

Suddenly she thought she saw something green fluttering behind the mills at the foot of the hill.

But when she was at the top of the hill she could not see it.

A hod-carrier told her that he had just seen the bird in Saint-Melaine, in Mother Simon's store.

She rushed to the place.
The people did not know what she was talking about.