of it. He went on with my spoon and his strawberries as
unconcernedly as if nothing had happened. I was conscious that
I blushed, but my face was in the shade, and nobody else knew
it; and to this day I've no doubt the old gentleman would have
marvelled what sent that mysterious spoon rattling against his
table and whizzing between his boots, had not Halicarnassus,
when the uproar was over, conceived it his duty to go and pick
up the spoon and apologize for the accident, lest the gentleman
should fancy an intentional rudeness. Partly to reward him for
his good behavior, partly because I never did think it worth
while to make two bites of a cherry, and partly because I did
not fancy being poisoned, I gave my fifteen berries to him.
He devoured them with evident relish.

"Does my spoon taste as badly as yours?" I asked.

"My spoon?" inquired he, innocently.

"Yes. You said before that they tasted coppery."

"I don't think," replied this unprincipled man,--"I don't think
it was the flavor of the spoon so much as of the coin which
each berry represented."

If we could only have been at home!

I never made a more unsatisfactory investment in my life than
the one I made in that restaurant. I felt as if I had been
swindled, and I said so to Halicarnassus. He remarked that
there was plenty of cream and sugar. I answered curtly, that