assure you that is the fact. I have only the dimmest remembrance of the
disaster, as of something I might have done in a dream. To tell you the
truth, I did not even suspect I had done so until I noticed I had torn a
portion of my clothing by the collision. After you left, it just dawned
upon me that I was the one who smashed the chair. I therefore desire to
apologise very humbly, and hope you will permit me to do so."

"For what do you intend to apologise, Mr. Morris? For breaking the
chair, or refusing to mend it when I asked you?"

"For both. I was really in a good deal of trouble just the moment before
I ran against your chair, Miss Earle, and I hope you will excuse me
on the ground of temporary insanity. Why, you know, they even let off
murderers on that plea, so I hope to be forgiven for being careless in
the first place, and boorish in the second."

"You are freely forgiven, Mr. Morris. In fact, now that I think more
calmly about the incident, it was really a very trivial affair to get
angry over, and I must confess I was angry."

"You were perfectly justified."

"In getting angry, perhaps; but in showing my anger, no--as some one
says in a play. Meanwhile, we'll forget all about it," and with that the
young lady rose, bidding her new acquaintance good night.

George Morris found he had more appetite for dinner than he expected to
have.