“Don’t like to? Why?”
“Because,” said Nora, sobbing, “you haven’t—it seems like—as if you couldn’t.”
Paul burst out laughing. “She wants somebody to call her darling,” said he.
“To call her what?”
“To call her darling.” And then he burst out laughing again; and the man raised both hands, and put up his shoulders, and burst out laughing, and they both laughed together.
At last the man took a walk round among his bird-cages, and said, “Come, I’ll tell you what I’ll do: I’ll give you a bird. If you’ll give me your hair, I’ll give you a bird.”
“A live one?” asked Nora.
“Yes, a live one. And, besides that, your hair will grow: then you will have both.”
“Will it sing?” asked Nora.
“When he’s old enough,” said the man. “And here’s a little basket to keep him in. It used to be a strawberry-basket. I’ll put some wool in it. It looks like a bird’s nest. I’ll hang it round your neck with this long string. There, how do you like that?—he, he, he!”