“Oh, no, Madame,” replied Lady Jane, brightly. “Tony’s large, he grows very fast, but he isn’t heavy, he’s all feathers, he’s very light; would you like to take him?”
“Oh, no, no, my dear, oh no,” said the old lady, drawing back timidly. “I shouldn’t like to touch it, but I should like to see it walk. I suppose it’s a crane, isn’t it?”
“He’s a blue heron, and he’s not a common bird,” replied Lady Jane, repeating her little formula, readily and politely.
“I see that it’s different from a crane,” said Mam’selle Diane, looking at Tony critically, who, now that his mistress had put him down, stood on one leg very much humped up, and making, on the whole, rather an ungainly figure.
“Tony always will do that before strangers,” observed Lady Jane apologetically. “When I want him to walk about and show his feathers, he just draws himself up and stands on one leg.”
“However, he is very pretty and very odd. Don’t you think I might succeed in copying him?” And Mam’selle Diane turned an anxious glance on her mother.
“I don’t know, my dear,” quavered the old lady, “his legs are so long that they would break easily if they were made of sealing-wax.”
LADY JANE IS PRESENTED TO MADAME D’HAUTREVE
“I think I could use a wire with the sealing-wax,” said Mam’selle Diane, thoughtfully regarding Tony’s leg. “You see there would be only one.”