The woman made a motion of friendliness with both hands. "I don't believe
that. You may be queer, but you've got a kind eye. It won't be for long
she'll need the canary, and it will cheer her. There certainly was never
a bird so little tied to one note. Now this note, now that, and so
amusing. At times it's as though he was laughing at you."
"That's because, with me for his master, he has had good reason to
laugh," remarked Jean Jacques, who had come at last to take a despondent
view of himself.
"That's bosh," rejoined Mme. Glozel; "I've seen several people odder than
you."
She went over to the cage eagerly, and was about to take it away. "Excuse
me," interposed Jean Jacques, "I will carry the cage to the house. Then
you will go in with the bird, and I'll wait outside and see if the little
rascal sings."
"This minute?" asked madame.
"For sure, this very minute. Why should the poor lady wait? It's a lonely
time of day, this, the evening, when the long night's ahead."
A moment later the two were walking along the street to the door of Mme.
Popincourt's lodgings, and people turned to look at the pair, one
carrying something covered with a white cloth, evidently a savoury dish
of some kind--the other with a cage in which a handsome canary hopped
about, well pleased with the world.
At Mme. Popincourt's door Mme.
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