And you shall go!”
The maid jumped as if she had been shot, and looked round. She thought somebody had caught her unawares; but when she saw it was Beaky she put on a sweet smile, and held out a lump of sugar, saying in a coaxing voice, “Pretty Poll! pretty Beaky! I won’t do it again! Come, then, and have a nice lump of sugar.”
This temptation was too strong for poor Beaky. He wanted very much to do his duty, but he wanted the lump of sugar more. So he put his head on one side and, looking very wise, sidled up to the maid. This was very wrong of Beaky, because he knew the sugar was stolen; and in another minute he was sorry; for as soon as he came within reach and pecked at the sugar, the maid caught him by the neck with the other hand. Then her smile changed, and she sneered,
“So Beaky is going to tell, is he? Tell-tale tit! I’ll teach Beaky to tell tales!” As she said each word, she plucked out a feather from poor Beaky’s head. Beaky shrieked and Beaky struggled, but all in vain; she did not let him go till he was bald as a bullet.
Tweaky saw all this, but said nothing, only winked and blinked, and looked more solemn than ever. The maid looked at him, but thought she, “That bird is too stupid to tell, and he isn’t worth the trouble of plucking.” So she left him alone.
By-and-by the master came in. The maid went up to him in a great bustle, and said she had found Beaky stealing sugar, and she had plucked him as a punishment.
When the evening came, the master sat in his room with Beaky and Tweaky. Poor Beaky felt ashamed of himself, and had nothing to say; he sat on his perch the picture of misery, with his tail drooping, and his ridiculous bald head. Tweaky said nothing at all.
Now it happened that the master had a bald head too, and when he took off his skull-cap, which he generally wore to keep his head warm, Tweaky noticed it.
He laughed loud and shrieked out, “Oh-oh-oh! Where’s your feathers, Tell-tale tit? Where’s your feathers, Tell-tale tit?”
Tweaky was only a parrot, you see, and was not always quite correct in his grammar, as you are.