Arabella Melopsittaca

…sanctuary upon the branches above was a pair conspicuously non-native to that habitat, these being none other than Ms. Arabella Melopsittaca and her fledged chick. These two with no little interest witnessed the Franciscan condescension of Mr Ian Corby, although they did not deign to make their own presence known to him, preferring to hold themselves aloof from the poor throwers teeming huggerbugger below.

The overriding concern of Mr Hawksmoor Perroquet, as he flitted in and out of the upper canopy of Dogging Wood, was not to be seen, inasmuch as he wished to avoid setting tongues to wag or beaks to chatter about his frequenting that Sodom above the gorge. Although the branches up there were - at least while some light remained - free of the debauchery upon the forest floor, they…

…swoop about him in his nest of thorns, and to reproach him for abandoning that innocent and foolish budgerigar whom he had seduced into miscegenation. They nipped and pecked at him with their beaks, and squawked in his ear

…nugget of regret that he had not enlarged upon the introduction he had made into the society of Mrs Arabella Melopsittaca and Miss Isolde Acridotheres. For Mr Ian Corby, being a single bird in possession of, if not as yet a substantial fortune, at any rate a great deal of oomph, and being on this account in want of a mate, had found himself susceptible to the nubile charms of…

…brace of hens to whom I referred just now, thereof the one hen - let us call her Mrs A - is lawfully wedded under the Lex Matrimonia Avum; whereas the other hen, a most respectable creature - let us call her Miss B - is betrothed and purposing to be likewise respectably wedded under that selfsame Lex Matrimonia Avum. Do you follow me thus far?”

…might be thought that these actions of the Mayor’s, in bringing about an end to the sufferings of Mrs Arabella Melopsittaca, and the restoration of her dignity, might also have marked the conclusion of matters in the present chronicle insofar as they relate to that matron. However, to reckon thus is to reckon without taking into account two further matters, both of which greatly preoccupied her husband.

“Ah do indeed,” quoth he, “if mah memory surrrves me it was regarding Mrs A wi’ prior cleem, Miss B betrothed, the twain yoked under Lex Matrimonia Avum to the ane cock.”

The sober and drab Mrs Arabella Melopsittaca, having had confirmed the lawful nature of her wedded union with Mr Hawksmoor Perroquet, discreetly underwent the discreet nomenclatural alterations discreetly undergone by her daughter, emerging from her holometabolous pupage as the resplendent Mrs Arabella Perroquet, acknowledged spouse of his Worshipfulness the Mayor.

Alas, the time of Mrs Arabella Perroquet in this exalted state was doomed to a sad attenuation. For, triste dictu, she had some weeks since while preening herself detected a small growth underneath the hinge of her right wing. It was in the nature of Mrs Arabella Perroquet to harbour an atavistic fear of showing weakness, inasmuch as she did not wish to be carried away and gobbled up by…

…straightaway betook himself to another room in the suite, which had been set aside for the convenience of Mrs Arabella Perroquet. In this room, there was to be found a bureau, in which, as Miss Isolde Perroquet had on one or two occasions intimated, there were sequestered certain official documents, although that maiden was at some pains to stress that she never had glimpsed their contents.