“Now, ladies and gentlemen,” said Willis, “Jocko is about to show you the progress he has made in splicing and bracing.”

“Good!” said Becker, “you have been able to make something of him, then?”

“You will see presently.  Jocko, bring me a plate.”

Hereupon the chimpanzee seized a bottle of Rockhouse malaga, and filled a glass.

“He has erred on the safe side there,” said Jack, drily.

“Well,” added Willis, laughing, “we must let that pass.  Jocko,” said he, assuming a sententious tone, “I asked you for a plate.”

The chimpanzee looked at him, hesitated a moment, then seized the glass, and drank the contents off at a single draught.  A box on the ears then sent him gibbering into a corner.

“Your servant,” remarked Mrs. Wolston, “has been taking lessons from Dean Swift as well as yourself, Willis.”

“I will serve him out for that, the swab; he does not play any of those tricks when we are alone.  I must admit, however, that I am generally in the habit of helping myself.”

Here attention was called to the parrot, who was screaming out lustily, “I love Mary, I love Sophia.”

“Holloa,” exclaimed Fritz, “Polly loves everybody now, does she?”

“Well, you see,” replied Sophia, “I grew tired of hearing him scream always that he loved my sister, so by means of a little coaxing, and a good deal of sugar, I got him to love me too.”

The poultry were next mustered for the inspection of their old masters.  These did not consist of the ordinary domestic fowls alone; amongst them were a beautiful flamingo, some cranes, bustards, and a variety of tame tropical birds.  With the fowls came the pigeons, which were perching about them in all directions.

“We are now something like the court of France in the fourteenth century,” said Wolston.

“How so?” inquired Becker.

“In the reign of Charles V., they were obliged to place a trellis at the windows of the Palace of St. Paul to prevent the poultry from invading the dining room.”

“Rural anyhow,” observed Jack.

“Of course, most other features of the palace were in unison with this primitive state of matters.  The courtiers sat on stools.  There was only one chair in the palace, that was the arm-chair of the king, which was covered with red leather, and ornamented with silk fringes.”

“So that we may console ourselves with the reflection, that we are as comfortable here as kings were at that epoch in Europe,” remarked Ernest.

“Yes; historians report, that when Alphonso V. of Portugal went to Paris to solicit the aid of Louis XI. against the King of Arragon, who had taken Castile from him, the French monarch received him with great honor, and endeavored to make his stay as agreeable as possible.”

“Reviews, I suppose, feasts, tournaments, spectacles, and so forth.”

“A residence was assigned him in the Rue de Prouvaires, at the house of one Laurent Herbelot, a grocer.”