pounds when you come 'ome it'll be the cheapest outing you have ever 'ad.
Won't it?"

Mr. Teak made no reply, but, after spending the evening in deliberation,
issued the invitation at the supper-table. His wife's eyes sparkled at
first; then the light slowly faded from them and her face fell.

"I can't go," she said, at last. "I've got nothing to go in."

"Rubbish!" said her husband, starting uneasily.

"It's a fact," said Mrs. Teak. "I should like to go, too--it's years
since I was at the Zoo. I might make my jacket do; it's my hat I'm
thinking about."

Mr. Chase, meeting Mr. Teak's eye, winked an obvious suggestion.

"So, thanking you all the same," continued Mrs. Teak, with amiable
cheerfulness, "I'll stay at 'ome."

"'Ow-'ow much are they?" growled her husband, scowling at Mr. Chase.

"All prices," replied his wife.

"Yes, I know," said Mr. Teak, in a grating voice. "You go in to buy a
hat at one and eleven-pence; you get talked over and flattered by a man
like a barber's block, and you come out with a four-and-six penny one.
The only real difference in hats is the price, but women can never see
it."