"Nonsense, Durand! don't play at hypocrite in your old age, after having been a true man all your life," broke in Major Favraud. "What is a conservative, after all, but a social parrot, who repeats 'wise saws and modern instances,' until he believes himself possessed of the wisdom of all the ages, and is incapable of conceiving of the existence even of an original idea?"
"By-the-by," digressed Duganne, weary of discussion, "hear that old fellow outside, how he is going on, Favraud, _à propos_ of poll parrots, you know, as if all else, but the name of the bird, had been lost on his ear. Just listen!"
"Yes, hear him, and be edified," was the sarcastic response of Favraud to Duganne, who took no other notice, even if he understood the point, than to lead the way to the portico, where swung the cage of the jolly bird in question; and, headed by Madame Grambeau leaning on her cane, we followed simultaneously, with the exception of Major Favraud, who continued at the table with his cigar and cognac-flask, in sullen and solitary state.
"Nutmegs and nullification!" shrieked the parrot, as we stood before him. "Ha, ha, ha!"
"That is condensing the matter, certainly," I observed.
"_Bienvenu, compatriote!_" he repeated many times, laughing loudly, the next moment, as if in mockery.
"What a fiend it is!" said Marion, timidly; "only look at its black tongue, Miss Harz! Then what a laugh!"
"Danton! Danton! have you nothing to say to this strange lady?" said Madame Grambeau, addressing her bird by name; "you must not neglect my friends, Danton Pardi!"
"Bird of freedom, moulting--moulting!" was the whimsical rejoinder. "Jackson! give us your paw, Old Hick--Hick--Hickory!"
"This is the stuff Major Favraud taught him," she apologized, "when he used to lie on his porch day after day, after his hostile meeting with Juarez, which took place on that hill," signifying the site of the duel with her slender cane. "It was there they fought their duel, _à l'outrance_, and I knew it not until too late! His wife was too ill to come to him at that time, and the task of nursing him devolved on me, since when, on maternal principles, the lad has grown into my affections."
"The lad of forty-odd!" sneered Duganne, unnoticed, apparently, by the aged lady, however, at the moment, but not without amusing other hearers by this sally. Dr. Durand was especially delighted.
