"ALLLLLL OWLLLLLLS."

"No, see, if you can't ask nicely then I'll just set up a place for Timothy's owls to come in where they don't have to be bothered by you at all."

Horrified gasp.

"So you should learn to ask nicely."

Frown. "Owls don't talk."

"I know. That's why you hold out your hand so they can decide - I'll show you -"

She looks at him suspiciously and says, "Show."

And he will demonstrate how to tell if owls would like to be petted!

Do a mollifying fraction of owls agree to pets?

Yep, plenty of them are quite all right with it. (More with Theodore than with Catherine, admittedly.)

Catherine is SO OFFENDED by the owls who will let him pet them but not her.

"Maybe they're worried you won't be gentle. You can be gentle and then they'll see that it's nice being petted by you."

"They won't let me!"

"You can be gentle with the ones who will let you, I mean."

"Owls don't talk!"

"They can notice things about each other!"

"The mean owls aren't looking!"

"They might!"

Catherine's expression conveys great disdain for this insufficiency.

Well, as long as she's not harassing the birds until they bite her.

Later, Catherine gets all the owl treats out of the cupboard and lavishly rewards petting-amenable owls.

Awwwww. 

This gets more owls excited about petting.

Good!

James and Samuel go back to school, and the leaves change, and they have a wedding!!

Wedding! Attended by invisidad in the corner! Whee!