bout a dozen times the sentence, "Pretty Poll! ain't I fine? ain't I
fine?"

The bird Content, perched on the mantelpiece, seemed listening in wonder
to a voice so unlike his own.

"That is a clever cockatoo," said Nelly, with a smile; "but I would not
exchange my Content for any other bird in the world."

"Ah, but Parade is a beauty--a real beauty!" cried Miss Folly; "Lady
Fashion, my most particular friend, would give anything to possess him!
I assure you that when I put him in my window, every passer-by stops to
stare at the creature. Only just hear him again."

And again Parade bobbed his head up and down, swelled himself out, and
repeated, "Pretty Poll! ain't I fine? ain't I fine?"

"I protest," cried Folly, speaking faster than ever, "he'll sometimes
keep repeating over that sentence from morning till night!"

Nelly was too polite to say it aloud, but she thought that one might get
very weary of hearing "Pretty Poll! ain't I fine? ain't I fine?"

"I really do not wish to make any exchange," said the lame girl with
mild decision; "Parade has very bright colours, it is true, but I love
better the silver wings and soft note of my pretty Content."

Even Folly could not but see that this her first effort had failed; but
Folly is not easily discouraged. "If this stupid girl do not care for
Parade," thought she, "I'll find something else that she cares for;" and
putting the cockatoo down on the table, Folly drew a gay jewel-case from
her pocket.

"What do you say to these?" she exclaimed, opening the case, and drawing
from it a long string of what looked like pearls, with a sparkling clasp
which seemed to be made of diamonds.

"They are very pretty indeed!" said Nelly.

"And so becoming--so charmingly becoming! I assure you, my dear, if you
would only let me dress up your hair, put it back _a l'Imperatrice_, and
adorn it with these lovely pearls, there's not a creature that would
know you again!"

Nelly laughed, and Folly thought that she had now found a vulnerable
point; that, like the crow in the fable, the child could be caught by
flattery.

"You don't do justice to yourself, my dear; your dress is so common and
plain that no one guesses how well you would look if you attended a
little to style. If you wore such clothes as Matty now wears, and
carried them off with an air, you may depend on't that people would take
you for a very grand lady indeed!"

"But why should I wish to be taken for what I am no