“Very becoming to your complexion. ‘Neat, but not gaudy,’ as the monkey said when they painted his tail sky-blue,” said the sparrow gallantly.
“Humph! red and yellow go well together,” sneered the house-cat. “It brings out her charming coloring!” and she gave a taunting laugh.
“Our friend always looks well to me,” said Mrs. Polly politely.
“Well, I guess you’re going to be sick,” said the canary, laughing. “To think of your paying anybody a compliment!”
Mrs. Polly was about as much astonished as the others at such an unusual occurrence, and gave a short laugh.
“To resume business,” she said. “Now, the first thing to do is for the sparrow to fly back to the place where Nancy lives and find out what’s going on, and when the best time will be for us to carry out our project. I should say ’twould be well to take some time when she’s out selling her matches.”
“O. K.,” answered the sparrow. “I’ll tear myself away for a while if you think you can spare me long enough, my dear,” he said to the barn-cat.
“Get along with you!” said the barn-cat testily.
“Don’t be harsh to a fellow,” answered the sparrow. “You know, my dear creature, that you’ll count the hours till I come back!”
“Count the fiddlesticks!” ejaculated the barn-cat, trying to look stern, but very much inclined to smile at the fellow’s impudence.