have a distinct sense of grievance against the race of cats and dogs
in general for not dying in his vicinity. At the end of the hour he
found a small dead frog. It was very dry and shrivelled, but it was
certainly a _dead_ frog and would do to begin on. He took it home in
his pocket. He wondered what they did first in stuffing dead animals.
He'd heard something about "tannin'" them. But what was "tannin'," and
how did one get it? Then he remembered suddenly having heard Ethel
talk about the "tannin'" in tea. So _that_ was all right. The first
thing to do was to get some tea. He went to the drawing-room. It was
empty, but upon the table near the fire was a tea-tray and two cups.
Evidently his mother and sister had just had tea there. He put the
frog at the bottom of a cup and carefully filled the cup with tea
from the teapot. Then he left it to soak and went out into the garden.

[Illustration: IN FROZEN SILENCE UNCLE GEORGE PUT A SPOON INTO HIS CUP
AND INVESTIGATED THE CONTENTS. IN STILL MORE FROZEN SILENCE MRS. BROWN
AND WILLIAM WATCHED.]

A few minutes later William's mother entered the drawing-room.

Uncle George had finished resting and was standing by the
mantel-piece with a cup in his hand.

"I see you poured out my tea for me," he said. "But rather a curious
taste. Doubtless you boil the milk now. Safer, of course. Much safer.
But it imparts a curious flavour."

He took another sip.

"But--I didn't pour out your tea----" began Mrs. Brown.