"I must have a nearer view of that singer," declared Nelson Randolph. "I'm sure he can't look like an ordinary mocker; he must show the marks of genius in his feathers!"
Miss Sterling laughed. "He is certainly surprising. Doodles told me he was trying to teach him a new song, but I was not prepared for anything like this."
"Who could be!—Come!" he invited. "Let's go over and see him!"
Juanita Sterling unavoidably brushed Miss Crilly on the way across, and smiled pleasantly, to which that middle-aged merrymaker responded with a whispered, "Ain't you swell, a-goin' with the president all the evening!"
Miss Sterling flung back a laughing shake of the head, and passed on.
Nelson Randolph scanned the slim gray bird in silence. Then he turned to his companion.
"It doesn't seem possible that this little fellow could do all that!"
Doodles smiled across the cage. He was giving Caruso the tidbit which he had well earned.
"How long does it take you to teach him a song?"
"I've only taught him one, Mr. Randolph. He was several months learning that. He knew 'Annie Laurie' when he came, and Mr. Gillespie taught him 'Auld Lang Syne.'"