silver, and four and a half brass cash," my object, of course, being
that after the mutual recrimination of disparagement and over-praise
we should in the length of an hour or two reach a becoming compromise
in the middle distance.

"Well," responded the menial one, regarding me with an expression in
which he did not even attempt to subdue the baser emotions, "you HAVE
come a long way for nothing"; and he made a pretence of wishing to
replace the object.

"Yet," I continued, "observe with calm impartiality how insidiously
the rust has assailed the outer polish of the lacquer; perceive here
upon the beneath part of wood the ineffaceable depression of a
deeply-pointed blow; note well the--"

"It was good enough for you to want me to muck up out of the window,
wasn't it?" demanded the obstinate barbarian, becoming passionate in
his bearing rather than reluctantly, but with courteous grace,
lessening the price to a trifling degree, as we regard the proper way
of carrying on the enterprise.

"It is well said," I admitted, hoping that he might yet learn wisdom
from my attitude of unruffled urbanity, though I feared that his angle
of negotiating was unconquerably opposed to mine, "but now its many
imperfections are revealed. The inelegance of its outline, the
grossness of the applied colours, the unlucky combination of numbers
engraved upon this plate, the--"

"Damme!" cried the utterly perverse rebel standing opposite, "why
don't you keep on your Compound, you Yellow Peril? Who asked you to