d
ever kept a parrot before; consequently that proceeding was considered
barely respectable. And such a parrot! If you took John Henry Carter's
word for it, never was such an unholy bird. It swore terribly. Mrs.
Carter would have taken John Henry away at once if she had been sure
she could get another place for him. Besides, Ginger had bitten a piece
right out of the back of John Henry's neck one day when he had stooped
down too near the cage. Mrs. Carter showed everybody the mark when the
luckless John Henry went home on Sundays.

All these things flashed through Anne's mind as Mr. Harrison stood,
quite speechless with wrath apparently, before her. In his most amiable
mood Mr. Harrison could not have been considered a handsome man; he was
short and fat and bald; and now, with his round face purple with rage
and his prominent blue eyes almost sticking out of his head, Anne
thought he was really the ugliest person she had ever seen.

All at once Mr. Harrison found his voice.

"I'm not going to put up with this," he spluttered, "not a day longer,
do you hear, miss. Bless my soul, this is the third time, miss . . . the
third time! Patience has ceased to be a virtue, miss. I warned your aunt
the last time not to let it occur again . . . and she's let it . . . she's
done it . . . what does she mean by it, that is what I want to know. That
is what I'm here about, miss."

"Will you explain what the trouble is?" asked Anne, in her most
dignified manner. She had been practicing it considerably of late to
have it in good working order when school began; but it had no apparent
effect on the irate J. A. Harrison.

"Trouble, is it? Bless my soul, trouble enough, I should think. The
trouble is, miss, that I found that Jersey cow of your aunt's in my oats
again, not half an hour ago. The third time, mark you. I found her in
last Tuesday and I found her in yesterday. I came here and told your
aunt not to let it occur again. She has let it occur again. Where's your
aunt, miss? I just want to see her for a minute and give her a piece of
my mind . . . a piece of J. A. Harrison's mind, miss."

"If you mean Miss Marilla Cuthbert, she is not my aunt, and she has gone
down to East Grafton to see a distant relative of hers who is very ill,"
said Anne, with due increase of dignity at every word. "I am very sorry
that my cow should have broken into your oats . . . she is my cow and not
Miss Cuthbert's . . . Matthew gave her to me three