rose, and without saying a word, he pointed out to him with an
afflicted air, the emblematic cup, the cup so exactly full. The doctor
apprehended the meaning that there was no room for him in the academy;
but taking courage, he thought to make them understand that an
academician supernumerary would derange nothing. Therefore, seeing at
his feet a rose leaf, he picked it up and laid it delicately on the
surface of the water, and that so gently, that not a single drop
escaped.

At this ingenious answer they were all full of admiration, and in
spite of rules, Doctor Zeb was admitted with acclamation.

They directly presented to him the register of the academy in which
they inscribed their names on their admission, and the doctor having
done so, nothing more remained than to thank them in a few words
according to custom. But Doctor Zeb, as a truly _silent_ academician,
thanked them without saying a word. He wrote on the margin the number
100, which was the number of his new brethren, and then placing a
cipher before the figure (0100) he wrote beneath "_Their worth is
neither less nor more_." The president answered the modest doctor with
as much politeness as presence of mind: he put the figure 1 before the
number 100, and wrote (1100) "_They are ten times what they were
before_."

_Dorset_. COLBOURNE.

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