“Part of it is on the mantelpiece,” said Mrs. Gannett, trying to speak calmly, “part of it is in a bonnet-box upstairs, some of it’s in my pocket, and here is the remainder.”
She fumbled in her pocket and placed in his hand a cheap two-bladed clasp-knife.
“On the mantelpiece?” repeated the engineer, staring at the knife; “in a bonnet-box!”
“Those blue vases,” said his wife.
Mr. Gannett put his hand to his head. If he had heard aright one parrot had changed into a pair of vases, a bonnet, and a knife. A magic bird with a vengeance.
“I sold it,” said Mrs. Gannett suddenly.
The engineer’s knee stiffened inhospitably, and his arm dropped from his wife’s waist. She rose quietly and took a chair opposite.
“Sold it!” said Mr. Gannett in awful tones. “Sold my parrot!”
“I didn’t like it, Jem,” said his wife. “I didn’t want that bird watching me, and I did want the vases, and the bonnet, and the little present for you.”
Mr. Gannett pitched the little present into the corner of the room.