The old man let them enter and closed the door behind them.
"How"s your parrot?" asked Ted, conversationally.
Old Joe looked surprised, but he answered courteously, "Polly is well, as usual."
"What kind of a bird is he?"
"A parrot, sir."
"I don"t mean that. Is he honest or--or gives to thievery?"
"Oh, sir, he"s the thievingest beast in the world, that he is! I don"t dare leave a thing around I"m not willing for him to take if he wants it."
"Yes, just so. And does he ever go out of this house?"
"No,--oh, no."
Ted"s face fell. Dolly"s, too, for she began to see what Ted had in mind. But if Polly never left the Mortimer house, surely he didn"t fly over and steal the earring.
"Could I go up to the room where the bird is?" said Ted, trying to conceal his disappointment at the collapse of his theory.
"Yes, sir, if you like, or I"ll bring the bird down here."
"We"ll go up, please," and Dolly and Ted followed the old man to the room on the second floor, which was opposite Mrs. Berry"s.
They looked in and saw the bird in his cage, hanging from a bracket near the window.
"Pretty Polly," said Ted, walking toward the cage. "Nice Polly. Polly want a cracker?"
The bird c.o.c.ked his head on one side, but said nothing.
"And you"re sure he never leaves his cage?" said Ted, examining the fastening on the cage door.
"Well, sir, he does leave his cage. I said he doesn"t leave this house.
That is,--not often. So seldom as to call it never."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Well, a few days ago,--I"m thinking it was Sunday,--the bird let himself out of his cage. The latch broke, do you see, and he could push the door open with his claw. I came into the room, and there he was stalking up and down the floor with a knowing look. I soon found how he got out of the cage and I fixed the latch so he can"t do it again. I let him out often, but I"m not going to have him letting himself out."
"Sunday, was it?" and Dolly"s eyes brightened as Ted went on with his questions. "And you weren"t here when he got out of his cage?"
"No, sir. But I came in soon and he was marching along the floor, winking at me."
"And was the window open?"
Old Joe stopped to think. "No," he said, finally, and Dolly gave a sigh of despair. If the window had been open, there was a possibility that Polly had been the thief.
"Can he fly?" she put in.
"Fly? Yes, that he can. That"s why I"m careful to keep him shut up here. I wouldn"t like him to fly over and annoy Mrs. Berry. He did that once a year ago, and the lady was right down mad about it."
"Think again, Joe. Couldn"t this window have been open Sunday, when Polly got out of his cage?"
"Well, now, I do believe it was! Wasn"t Sunday that warm, pleasant day?
Yes? Well, then, come to think of it, this here window WAS open! My! it was a good thing Mr. Polly didn"t walk out of it!"
"But that"s just what he did do,--I believe!"
"What, sir? What do you mean?"
"Well, I"ll tell you. A small article has disappeared from the house next door, from a room on this side, just above Mrs. Berry"s room. It"s a hard matter to find out what became of the thing, a small trinket of jewellery, and I"m in hopes that your bird flew over and took it, because that will let out certain very much worried human beings!"
"Oh, I can"t think Polly did that!"
"Can he fly as far as to go up to that window two stories higher than this? You say he can fly, but would he be likely to fly UP?"
"If so be that window was open he might. He"s a born thief, that bird is. But in that case, what did he do with it? A jewel, you say?"
"Yes, an old, very old earring."
"Ah!" and Joe started; "of fine work, but all broken and bent?"
"I don"t know. How about that, Dolly?"
"It was old, and it was fine gold work. But it wasn"t bent or broken."
"Then it"s not the same," said Joe. "Polly has a lot of playthings, and some old imitation jewellery that Mrs. Mortimer lets him have because he loves such things. And it was Monday, yes, yesterday, he had an old piece of stuff that I didn"t remember seeing before, but I paid little attention to it. And it was that bent and twisted it can"t have been the thing you"re searching for. No, that it couldn"t."
"I suppose not," said Ted, but Dolly said, "Let us see it, anyway, can"t you? Maybe Polly bent it up himself."
Old Joe went and searched through a lot of broken bits of metal tilings in a box on the table.
"Here it is," he said. "You see how it"s worn out!"
"That"s it!" cried Dolly. "Oh, Ted, THAT"S the earring! Hooray!"
"Is it? Hooray!" shouted Ted. "REALLY, oh, it"s too good to be true!
Polly MUST have taken it, Joe."
"Yes, he must have done so, if Miss, here, says it"s the one. But let me figger it out. I s"pose when Polly opened his cage door, the open window attracted him, and he flew out. Then as the other windows in the Forbes house were closed, he made for that one that was open. Was n.o.body in the room?"
"No," said Dolly, "not when the jewel was taken. I left it on a table, near the window, and--"
"Yes, Miss, I see! Polly was tempted by the glittering thing; he loves glitter, and he s.n.a.t.c.hed it up and flew right back home with it. He hid it somewhere; that"s his thievish nature, and when I came in here he was walking up and down the floor as innocent appearin" as a lamb! Oh, you wicked Polly!"
"Wick-ed Polly!" screeched the bird. "Naughty Polly!"
"Yes, very naughty Polly!" said Ted. "But a good Polly, after all, to get us out of our troubles!"