annoyance.

"You said something looked like rain, and I asked you if the thing you
referred to was the coffee, for I was disposed to agree with you," said
the Idiot.

"I am sure," put in Mrs. Smithers, "that a gentleman of Mr.
Whitechoker's refinement would not make any such insinuation, sir. He is
not the man to quarrel with what is set before him."

[Illustration: "HOLDING HIS PLATE UP TO THE LIGHT"]

"I ask your pardon, madam," returned the Idiot, politely. "I hope that I
am not the man to quarrel with my food, either. Indeed, I make it a
rule to avoid unpleasantness of all sorts, particularly with the weak,
under which category we find your coffee. I simply wish to know to what
Mr. Whitechoker refers when he says 'it looks like rain.'"

"I mean, of course," said the Minister, with as much calmness as he
could command--and that was not much--"I mean the day. The day looks as
if it might be rainy."

"Any one with a modicum of brain knows what you meant, Mr. Whitechoker,"
volunteered the School-master.

"Certainly," observed the Idiot, scraping the butter from his toast;
"but to those who have more than a modicum of brains my reverend
friend's remark was not entirely clear. If I am talking of cotton, and a
gentleman chooses to state that it looks like snow, I know exactly what
he means. He doesn't mean that the day looks like snow, however; he
refers to the cotton. Mr. Whitechoker, talking about coffee, chooses to
state that it looks like rain, which it undoubtedly does. I, realizing
that, as Mrs. Smithers says, it is not the gentleman's habit to attack
too violently the food which is set before him, manifest some surprise,
and, giving the gentleman the benefit of the doubt, afford him an
opportunity to set himself right."

"Change the subject," said the Bibliomaniac, curtly.

"With pleasure," answered the Idiot, filling his glass with cream.
"We'll change the subject, or the object, or anything you choose. We'll
have another breakfast, or another variety of biscuits _frappe_--anything,
in short, to keep peace at the table. Tell me, Mr. Pedagog," he added,
"is the use of the word 'it,' in the sentence 'it looks like rain,'
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
cond