u should have
taken me long ago.'"

"And--and you"--Billy paused for breath and danced excitedly about the
room--"and you did not--you--you, oh--Maxwelton's braes--and you--Ah,
well, there is nothing to be gained by talking to you upon that subject.
What _do_ you think of the administration? Jackson is a hickory
blockhead, eh? Congress a stupendous aggregation of asses. Yes,
everybody is an ass, of course; but there is one who is monumental.
Monumental, I say. Monu--ah, well--Maxwelton's braes are
bonny--um--um--um--um--damn!" And Billy sat down disgusted, turning his
face from Dic.

After a long pause Dic spoke: "I believe you are right, Billy Little. I
should have brought her."

"Believe--" cried the angry little friend. "Don't you know it? The _pons
asinorum_ is a mere hypothesis compared to the demonstration in this
case."

"But she was not of age, and could not marry without her parents'
consent," said Dic. "Had I brought her home, we could have found no one
to perform the ceremony."

"I would have done it quickly enough; I am a justice of the peace. I
could have done it as well as forty preachers. I should have been fined
for transgressing the law in marrying you without a license, but I would
have done it, and it would have been as legal as if it had taken place
in a cathedral. We could have paid the fine between us."

"Well, what's to be done?" asked Dic, after a long, awkward pause. "It's
not too late."

"Yes, it's too late," answered Billy. "I wash my hands of the whole
affair. When a man can get a girl like Rita, and throws away his chance,
he's beyond hope. I supposed you had bought her for twenty-six hundred
dollars--you will never see a penny of it again--and a bargain at the
price. She is worth twenty-six hundred million; but if you could not buy
her, you should have borrowed, stolen, kidnapped--anything to get her.
Now what do you think of yourself?"

"Not much, Billy Little, not much," answered Dic, regretfully. "But you
should have said all this to me long ago. Advice after the fact is like
meat after a feast--distasteful."

"Ah, you are growing quite epigrammatic," said Billy, snappishly; "but
there is some truth in your contention. We will begin again. When we see
Rita, we will formulate a plan and try to thwart Justice."

"What plan have you in mind?" asked Dic, eager to discuss the subject.

"I have none," Billy replied. "Rita will perhaps furnish both the plan
and the girl."

Dic