"Do you always go to sleep with such alarming suddenness?" asked Mr.
DIBBLE.

"When I have to go anywhere, I make it a rule to go at once:--similarly,
when going to sleep," was the answer. "Excuse me, however, for keeping
you waiting, Mr. DIBBLE. We've had quite a rain, sir."

His hair, collar, and shoulders being very wet from the water which had
been poured upon him during his slumber, Mr. BUMSTEAD, in his present
newly-awake frame of mind, believed that a hard shower had taken place,
and thereupon turned moody.

"We've had quite a rain, sir, since I saw you last," he repeated,
gloomily, "and I am freshly reminded of my irreparable loss."

"Such an open, spring-like character!" apostrophized the lawyer, staring
reflectively into the grate.

"Always open when it rained, and closing with a spring," said Mr.
BUMSTEAD, in soft abstraction lost.

"_Who_ closed with a spring?" queried the elder man, irascibly.

"The umbrella," sobbed JOHN BUMSTEAD.

"I was speaking of your nephew, sir!" was Mr. DIBBLE'S impatient
explanation.

Mr. BUMSTEAD stared at him sorrowfully for a moment, and then requested
Mrs. SMYTHE to step to a cupboard in the next room and immediately pour