Although freed from his successive Babylonian captivities in the lock-up of Mr Francis MacMahon and the inner sanctum of Dr Mark Wankstain, Mr Ian Corby did not perch on ceremony, and saw no need to exchange his roost in Dogging Woods for a more salubrious habitation. However, there was upon the evening of his release a lock-in at the Fruit & Nut Flake, and I rather think that Mr Ian Corby, after making his way thither upon emerging from the chimney atop … er … Squattocrat Towers, may have passed the night at that renowned auberge, refreshing his bill and carousing with the convivial company which he found there, albeit keeping a weather eye open for Mr Francis MacMahon, lest that brigand appear and scoop him up again and compel him to renew acquaintance with that Hadic lock-up of his. —
The Fruit & Nut Flake, Squattocrat Towers, Bianca Columbina, Ian Corby, Dogging Wood
At any rate, Mr Ian Corby did not return to Dogging Wood until the following dawn, by which time the typhoon of the previous night had considerably abated. Now Mr Ian Corby, for all that he was the most sanguine of creatures who ever flapped aloft upon the sighs of Aeolus, withal discovered within his craw a little 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 the younger of the two birds just mentioned. —
Arabella Melopsittaca
Thus disappointed, Mr Ian Corby tarried not upon his roost in that Gethsemane or Tophet, but straightaway took wing once more, and flapped away over the undulant tree-punctuated plateau, all the while composing in his head a mild little paean to his mild little regret. Pretty soon, there was espied by the gulls lurking in a monitory capacity on the chimneys of Whiteladies Road, the Jove of the piece, initially as a sort of point-particle, then by degrees assuming size and a winged shape flapping. Over the Triangle and down Park Street flew the crow, putting the finishing touches to the mildest little coda just as he alighted on the lip of the ceramic pot pertaining to the chimney which served his own office in the City Hall, thereby disarranging the inevitable pewlies. Within minutes, Mr Ian Corby, very sooty and smeared most becomingly with the yolk of the slaughtered innocents, was ensconced at his desk and engaged upon the phone, wherefore he had turned his attention as previously related to questions of ingredients and muttigeetin’ fear hazurrrds. —
City Hall
“Good morning to ye Mr Corby,” said Mr Hawksmoor Perroquet, appearing in the doorway, “I trust I find you well.” —
Hawksmoor Perroquet
“Ah … yes,” squawked Mr Hawksmoor Perroquet as if reconsidering Mr Ian Corby’s suitability as a recipient of confidences, “well, …” and at this point evidently deciding to cross the Rubicon, proceeded to say “the … er … conundrum which by your leave I now present for your consideration relates to the female of our class of the animalia; more particularly two such, which is to say, and not to put too fine a point on things, what we are talking about is a brace of hens.” —
Hawksmoor Perroquet
“Concerning the 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?” —
Lex Matrimonia Avum, Bianca Columbina, Arabella Melopsittaca
“Very good so far, yes,” said the Mayor hastily, “however now comes the tricky bit. The uncomfortable truth is that the individual to whom Mrs A is lawfully wedded under the Lex Matrimonia Avum, and the individual to whom Miss B, that unimpeachably respectable creature, is betrothed also under the Lex Matrimonia Avum, are one and the same individual.” —
Lex Matrimonia Avum
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