DEAR FREDDY,--The bird itself has at last provided me with the proof
which you were unable or unwilling to supply. Among a string of other
rather fruity remarks which it made while we were at breakfast this
morning it indulged--vicariously, one assumes--in a hope as to my future
which has removed any traces of doubt lingering in my mind as to the
bird's ownership.
My wife and maid-servant were present, and as the remark was a very
comprehensive one and indicated me by name I am not sure that an action
for libel would not lie against you.
But I am not vindictive, so return the bird to a more fitting _milieu_.
Yours,