"No; but occasionally when I let him out of his cage, and the window is open, he gets out upon the ledge and walks along the cornice to Dad's room, looking for him. Dad is the only one in the family he has any use for, except me; probably because the old man hates him so cordially!"
"Parrots usually repeat a phrase which they have just acquired until the novelty wears off; do they not?"
"I suppose so; or until a new sentence impresses itself upon what minds they have," Rannie responded indifferently.
"Then any new phrase which Socrates repeats he must have learned in this room?" Odell persisted.
"Of course.—I say, what are you driving at?" The indifference was gone from the boy's tone. "You don't think—? But that sentence doesn't mean anything; it couldn't possibly have any connection with the case. No matter who Socrates is imitating, strength was no factor in my mother's death."
"But it was in both the attempted murders," the detective remarked. "Do you think, too, that your brother Julian permitted his razor to be wrested from him without a struggle? I wish our friend Socrates could be induced to talk some more."
