"Now haven't I as much right to light on Earth as on any other bit of
cosmic dust?" I asked, laughing and forgetting how much snubbing he
requires in the delight of seeing any one I knew.

Then he insisted that I had a "date" with him.--A date, as I discovered
later, means something nice to eat--and hinted very broadly that Bloomer
need not wait if she had more important matters to attend to. I must
confess she did not seem at all sorry to have me taken off her hands,
for after cautioning me to beware of a number of things I did not so
much as know by name, she shot off like a respectable old aerolite with
a black trail streaming out behind. If she remains here much longer she
will be coming back upon a mission to reform _us_. As for Tuck, he
became insufferably patronizing at once.

"Well, how do you like the Only Planet? and how do you like the Only
Town? and how do you like the Only Street?" he began, waving his hands
and looking about him as though there were anything here that one of
_us_ could admire. But, of course, I refused to gratify him with my
crude impressions. I simply said:

"You appear very well pleased with them yourself."

"And so will you be," he replied, "when you have realized their
possibilities. Remark that elderly entity across the street. I have to
but exert my will that he shall sneeze and drop his eyeglasses, and
behold, there they go."--Yes, my dear, eyeglasses. They are worn on the
nose by people who imagine they can not see very well.

"I consider such actions cruel and unkind," I said, at the same time
willing an embryonic girl to pick the glasses up, and though the child
was rather beyond my normal circle, I was delighted to see her obey. But
I have an idea Tuck regretted an experiment which taught me something I
might not have found out, at least for a while.

I had now been on Earth several hours, and change of atmosphere gives
one a ravenous appetite. You see, I had forgotten to ask Ooma how, and
how often, humans ate, so when Tuck suggested breakfast as a form of
entertainment I put myself in sympathy with the idea at once. Besides it
is most important to know just where to find the things you want, and
you may be sure I made a lot of mental notes when we came, as presently
we did, to a tower called Astoria.

I understand that the upper portions of the edifice are used for study
of the Stars, but we were made welcome on the lower story by a stately
being, who conducted us t