ong, long ago. And if I close my eyes
and think hard I can see that parlor just as it was then: a funny little
man in coat-tails, with a round kind face, playing away on the flute
in front of the fire; my mother on one side of him and my father on the
other, holding their breath and listening with their eyes shut; myself,
with Jip, squatting on the carpet at his feet, staring into the coals;
and Polynesia perched on the mantlepiece beside his shabby high hat,
gravely swinging her head from side to side in time to the music. I see
it all, just as though it were before me now.

And then I remember how, after we had seen the Doctor out at the front
door, we all came back into the parlor and talked about him till it was
still later; and even after I did go to bed (I had never stayed up so
late in my life before) I dreamed about him and a band of strange
clever animals that played flutes and fiddles and drums the whole night
through.

THE SEVENTH CHAPTER. SHELLFISH TALK

THE next morning, although I had gone to bed so late the night before,
I was up frightfully early. The first sparrows were just beginning to
chirp sleepily on the slates outside my attic window when I jumped out
of bed and scrambled into my clothes.

I could hardly wait to get back to the little house with the big
garden--to see the Doctor and his private zoo. For the first time in
my life I forgot all about breakfast; and creeping down the stairs on
tip-toe, so as not to wake my mother and father, I opened the front door
and popped out into the empty, silent street.

When I got to the Doctor's gate I suddenly thought that perhaps it was
too early to call on any one: and I began to wonder if the Doctor would
be up yet. I looked into the garden. No one seemed to be about. So I
opened the gate quietly and went inside.

As I turned to the left to go down a path between some hedges, I heard a
voice quite close to me say,

"Good morning. How early you are!"

I turned around, and there, sitting on the top of a privet hedge, was
the gray parrot, Polynesia.

"Good morning," I said. "I suppose I am rather early. Is the Doctor
still in bed?"

"Oh no," said Polynesia. "He has been up an hour and a half. You'll find
him in the house somewhere. The front door is open. Just push it and go
in, He is sure to be in the kitchen cooking breakfast--or working in his
study. Walk right in. I am waiting to see the sun rise. But upon my word
I believe it's forgot