patent leather. The gentleman attributed his happiness to the fact that he
mixed "Florazora" cream with his scalp. "Florazora Cream," I read, "fixes
the hair. Subtly perfumed with honey and flowers. Imparts a lustre and--"
The bus resumed its journey.

I studied Andy's head. Normally it looks as though he had been mopping out
a rusty drain with it. It was quite normal, every hair on end and pointing
in a different direction.

"Well, what of Florazora?" I asked. "It's evident she has never entered
into your life, at any rate."

"That's all you know about it," said Andy. "They're sitting up for me with
blunderbusses and brickbats at home, and 'Florazora' is the cause."

"But how?" I asked.

"Ye'll discover if ye'll let me speak for a half a minute. I may admit to
you I was very sweet on a little girl that was staying with the MacManuses
a while back, so I bought a bottle of that stuff to keep my hair down while
I was pitching her the yarn. I cornered the lass alone in the MacManus'
drawing-room, went down on my knees and threw off a dandy proposal I had
learnt by heart out of a book. The girl curled about all over the sofa with
emotion, and for a bit I thought my eloquence was doing it. Then I
perceived she was near shaken to pieces with laughter. Couldn't think why
till I happened to catch sight of myself in a mirror and saw that my darned
old hair had come unstuck again and was bobbing up all over my head, not
singly as it is now, but a cockatoo tuft at a time, thanks to 'Florazora.'
I rose up off the MacManus carpet and ran all the way home."