E-text prepared by Al Haines Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustrations. See 18443-h.htm or 18443-h.zip: (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/8/4/4/18443/18443-h/18443-h.htm) or (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/8/4/4/18443/18443-h.zip) PARROT & CO. by HAROLD MacGRATH Author of "The Best Man," "The Carpet from Bagdad," "The Place of Honeymoons" With Four Illustrations in Color By Andre Castaigne [Frontispiece: The Game of Gossip.] A. L. Burt Company Publishers -------- New York Copyright 1913 The Bobbs-Merrill Company CONTENTS CHAPTER I EAST IS EAST II A MAN WITH A PAST III THE WEAK LINK IV TWO DAYS OF PARADISE V BACK TO LIFE VI IN THE NEXT ROOM VII CONFIDENCES VIII A WOMAN'S REASON IX TWO SHORT WEEKS X THE CUT DIRECT XI THE BLUE FEATHER XII THE GAME OF GOSSIP XIII AFTER TEN YEARS XIV ACCORDING TO THE RULES XV A BIT OF A LARK XVI WHO IS PAUL ELLISON? XVII THE ANSWERING CABLE XVIII THE BATTLE XIX TWO LETTERS XX THE TWO BROTHERS XXI HE THAT WAS DEAD ILLUSTRATIONS The Game of Gossip . . . . . . _Frontispiece_ A Bit of a Lark The Battle He That Was Dead TO J. J. CURTIS PARROT & CO. I EAST IS EAST It began somewhere in the middle of the world, between London which is the beginning and New York which is the end, where all things are east of the one and west of the other. To be precise, a forlorn landing on the west bank of the muddy turbulent Irrawaddy, remembered by man only so often as it was necessary for the flotilla boat to call for paddy, a visiting commissioner anxious to get away, or a family homeward-bound. Somewhere in the northeast was Mandalay, but lately known in romance, verse and song; somewhere in the southeast lay Prome, known only in guide-books and time-tables; and farther south, Rangoon, sister to Singapore, the half-way house of the derelicts of the world. On the east side of the river, over there, was a semblance of civilization. That is to say, men wore white linen, avoided murder, and frequently paid their gambling debts. But on this west side stood wilderness, not the kind one reads about as being eventually conquered by white men; no, the real grim desolation, where the ax cuts but leaves no blaze, where the pioneer disappears and few or none follow. The pioneer has always been a successful pugilist, but in this part of Burma fate, out of pure admiration for the pygmy's gameness, decided to call the battle a draw. It was not the wilderness of the desert, of the jungle; rather the tragic hopeless state of a settlement that neither progressed, retarded, nor stood still.