perfectly correct?"

"I don't know why it is not," returned the School-master, uneasily. He
was not at all desirous of parleying with the Idiot.

"And is it correct to suppose that 'it' refers to the day--is the day
supposed to look like rain?--or do we simply use 'it' to express a
condition which confronts us?"

"It refers to the latter, of course."

"Then the full text of Mr. Whitechoker's remark is, I suppose, that 'the
rainy condition of the atmosphere which confronts us looks like rain?'"

"Oh, I suppose so," sighed the School-master, wearily.

"Rather an unnecessary sort of statement that!" continued the Idiot.
"It's something like asserting that a man looks like himself, or, as in
the case of a child's primer--

"'See the cat?'

"'Yes, I see the cat.'

"'What is the cat?'

"'The cat is a cat. Scat cat!'"

At this even Mrs. Smithers smiled.