Dolly sat down in a little rocker, and was suddenly seized with a fit of shyness. The request she had come to make seemed so impossible, that she couldn't put it into words. Mrs. Berry saw her embarrassment, and kindly strove to put her at ease.
"How do you like my room?" she said, cordially; "you've never been in here before."
"It's lovely," said Dolly, looking about at the pretty furnishings; "it's in a sort of back extension, isn't it?"
"Yes, this a narrower part of the house, and gives me an outlook on our tiny yard as well as on the side street. It's a very satisfactory room, except for my neighbour," and she laughed.
"Who is the unsatisfactory neighbour?" asked Dolly, smiling in response.
"Not the people next door, they're quiet enough; but they have a parrot, and he's in the room just across from this, and he chatters so often that it is sometimes very annoying. Look over, you can see him now."
Sure enough, as Dolly looked from the window, she saw a big Polly in a cage at the opposite casement. Only thin lace curtains were between, and Dolly could clearly see the beautiful bird.
"It's a lovely parrot," she said, "but I suppose his chatter is just as bothersome as if he were a homelier bird. Well, Mrs. Berry," and she turned from the window, "I've come to ask you something."
"And something that you hesitate to ask,—I can see that. But don't be afraid, dear. Tell me what it is, and if I have to refuse you, at least I won't do it harshly."
"I know you won't!" and Dolly felt ashamed of her fears. "Well, it's just this. Alicia,—that is, we're all of us just crazy over the hero in the play we saw this afternoon, and we—that is, we think it would be nice if we could—if we could ask him to—to call here, on us."