Perhaps that is why I lost my ambition." "I am sorry." "It is life." There was a pause.

"He never let me keep a dog or a cat about the house.

But after a time I learned the ways of the parrakeets, and they would come down to me like doves in the stories.

I never made any effort to touch them; so by and by they learned to light fearlessly on my arms and shoulders.

And what a noise they made! This is how I used to call them." She pursed her lips and uttered a whistle, piercingly shrill and high; and instantly she became the object of intense astonishment on the part of the other diners.