“It’s worth while paying for such a show!” she exclaimed. And everybody agreed with her, though only a few were willing to put their hands in their pockets.
All at once a great clatter was heard, and a running footman came racing along the road, shouting as he went and pushing people out of the way with his staff.
“Room! room!” he cried. “Make way for the Lord Bishop’s carriage!”
A splendid open coach came in sight, drawn by four white horses with purple plumes on their heads and driven by a gold-laced coachman. A fine fat Bishop sat in it, dressed in purple. Gold tassels hung from his hat, and opposite to him sat a servant armed with a silk pocket-handkerchief with which to flick the dust of the road from the episcopal person. Everybody bowed to the earth.
“What is all this crowd for?” demanded the Bishop, stopping his coach.
When he heard that a girl was to be heard talking to a Cochin-China cock in his native tongue, he was immensely surprised, and ordered Maggie and her companion to come before him. The woman who had given them meat and bread pushed her forward.
“Your Reverend Holiness will die o’ laughing to hear them,” she exclaimed.
“Speak, girl,” said the Bishop. “Address the bird, and tell him to reply.”
When he had heard the conversation that followed, he could hardly believe his senses. The servant with the silk handkerchief grinned from ear to ear, the coachman on his box turned round to listen, and the footmen who stood on a board behind the carriage gaped.
“You are evidently a highly intelligent little girl,” said the Bishop, “and it is a scandal that you should be tramping the roads. I have a large aviary at my palace and you shall come to look after it. I really never thought to find a person who could speak to birds. Some of mine are very tiresome, and you will be able to make them hear reason. I will see that you are properly clothed and educated.”