others. Presently, in the profound silence which ensued, a low, silvery
gurgling became audible, as of some merry mountain burn--a sweet,
warbling sound, swelling louder by degrees until it ended in a long
ringing peal of laughter.

This was from the girl Yoletta. I stared at her, surprised at her
unseasonable levity; but the only effect of my doing so was a general
explosion, men and women joining in such a tempest of merriment that one
might have imagined they had just heard the most wonderful joke ever
invented since man acquired the sense of the ludicrous.

The old gentleman was the first to recover a decent gravity, although it
was plain to see that he struggled severely at intervals to prevent a
relapse.

"Smith," said he, "of all the extraordinary delusions you appear to be
suffering from, this, that you can have garments to wear in return for a
small piece of paper, or for a few bits of this metal, is the most
astounding! You cannot exchange these trifles for clothes, because
clothes are the fruit of much labor of many hands."

"And yet, sir, you said you understood me when I proposed to pay for the
things I require," said I, in an aggrieved tone. "You seemed even to
approve of the offer I made. How, then, am I to pay for them if all I
possess is not considered of any value?"

"_All_ you possess!" he replied. "Surely I did not say that! Surely
you possess the strength and skill common to all men, and can acquire
anything you wish by the labor of your hands."