THE autumn had come, and with it bad weather; storms and rain had come too; but Alice and Beatrice found the days pass always happily.
They were rarely prevented going out, at least for a short time, every day; for the broad terrace of the sunny garden was always dry; and there they played with their favourite dog and kitten, and ran up and down with them.
Wolf and Mouser had become good friends, and played together. When Wolf pretended to go to sleep, Mouser would creep up softly and slyly to him, and, putting out a soft paw, would lift one of the dog’s ears; whereupon Wolf suddenly awoke, shaking his ears with a friendly bark; then Mouser scampered away and hid behind a bush till Wolf passed, then she rushed out and leaped upon the dog’s back, to Beatrice’s great delight.
Wolf seemed fond of the playful kitten, and let her play with him, and even eat from the same plate.
Alice and Beatrice still ran races with their hoops up and down the broad gravel walk, down the sloping paths, and round the garden, and up again to the wide terrace.
Grandmamma was either walking in the garden or sitting at one of the windows overlooking it.
Indoors their pretty parrot was a never-failing source of pleasure to both the children.
The love-birds they did not care for much, and left them to their grandmamma.
The parrot now answered them when they spoke, and repeated all that the children had taught him. He imitated every sound he heard: he barked like Wolf, he mewed like the cat, he called ‘cuckoo’ like the clock; for in the dining-room there was a pretty German clock carved in black wood, where a little cuckoo came out of a little door in the clock, and called ‘cuckoo’ as many times as the hour. One day he startled Beatrice by coughing like grandmamma, for she could not find out for a long time who it was that had coughed. Mary told her how frightened she had been one morning, on going into the dining-room, in the dark, to hear ‘Who is there?’ whispered so low, but so like some one speaking, that she was at first quite afraid. Sometimes the parrot tried to whistle a tune, which he had heard on board ship, no doubt, and he really did it very well.
The parrot liked the little girls to come and talk to him, and was very tame to them. He always greeted them when they came down to breakfast with a loud ‘Good morning;’ and he waited patiently for a piece of biscuit or sugar, which Beatrice never forgot to give him.