energy into getting hold of sugar. I noticed some time ago that at
these restaurants they give the sugar allowance to all customers who
ask for tea or coffee, although perhaps twenty per cent. of them do
not take sugar at all. It is these people who supply me with the extra
sugar I need. In your case it was an honest mistake. I always wait to
see if people are proposing to use their sugar before I appropriate
it."

"But if you only take from the willing," I inquired, "why do you not
ask their permission?"

"I suppose I have given you the right to ask me that question," he
replied with much dignity, "but it is painful to me to have to answer
it. I have not yet sunk so low that I have to beg people for their
cast-off sugar. I may come to it in the end, perhaps. At present the
'earnest gaze' trick is generally sufficient, or, where it fails, a
kick on the shin. But I hate cruelty."

"Physical cruelty," I suggested.

"No, any kind of cruelty. I have said that in your case I made a
mistake. If I could repair it I would."

"Well," I said, "here's something you can do towards it, although it's
little enough." And I handed him the ticket the waitress had written
out for me. "And now I'll go and get a cup of tea somewhere."

"One moment," he said, as I rose to go. "We may meet again."

"Never!" I said firmly.