His brother boxed his ears with great promptitude, and went on, "Well,
I don't care; confess, sir, isn't it rather a nuisance?"

Paterfamilias's friend looked very grave, and said, quietly, "I don't
think I am able to judge. I never had brother or sister but one, and
he was drowned at sea. Whatever I have had, I have had the whole of,
and would have given it away willingly for some one to give it to. If
any one sent me grapes, I ate them alone. If I made anything, there
was no one to show it to. If I wanted to act, I must act all the
characters, and be my own audience. I remember that I got a lot of
sticks at last, and cut heads and faces to all of them, and carved
names on their sides, and called them my brothers and sisters. If you
want to know what I thought a nice number for a fellow to have, I can
only say that I remember carving twenty-five. I used to stick them in
the ground and talk to them. I have been only, and lonely, and alone,
all my life, and have never felt the nuisance you speak of."

This was a funny account; but the speaker looked so far from funny
that one of the sisters, who was very tender-hearted, crept up to him,
and said, gently--

"Richard is only joking; he doesn't really want to get rid of us. The
other day the curate said he wished he had a sister, and Richard
offered to sell us all for ninepence; but he is only in fun. Only it
is rather slow just now, and the boys get rather cross; at least, we
all of us do."

"It's a dreadful state of things," said the friend, smiling through
his black beard and moustachios. "What is to be done?"