After this, whenever she wanted to be very cunning, she would repeat this performance, much to the amusement of all who heard her.
Poll was a very mischievous bird, and on this account was not let out of her cage, unless Minnie or some one was at liberty to watch her.
Mrs. Lee, who usually sat in the back parlor, from which place she could hear Poll talk, was sure to know if the bird was doing any great mischief, for she always began to scold herself on such occasions.
“Ah, ah!” she exclaimed, one day; “what are you about, Poll?”
Mrs. Lee rose quickly, and advanced on tiptoe to the door, where she saw the parrot picking at some buttons on the sofa, which she had often been forbidden to touch. Much amused at the sight, she listened to an imitation of her own voice, as follows:—
“Go away, I tell you, Poll! I see you! Take care!”
Finding her buttons fast disappearing, she suddenly entered, when the bird went quickly back to her perch.
In the afternoon, when her husband returned from town, she related the incident to him and to Minnie.
“That shows us,” answered the gentleman, laughing, “how careful we ought to be what we say before her; we shall be sure to hear it again.”
After tea, when Minnie and her father were in the library, they heard Poll singing a variety of tunes in her merriest tones. They stopped talking a while to listen, and then both laughed heartily to see how quickly she struck into a whistle, as Tiney walked deliberately into the room in search of her little mistress.