nd have done with it!

_Ang._ (_gradually retracting_). Oh, but listen. I--I didn't mean
quite all I said just now. I mixed things up. It was really whiskey
he gave you, only he _said_ it was paraffin, and so you wouldn't drink
it, and you _did_ sing, but it was only about some place where an old
horse died, and it was somebody else who had the broom! And you didn't
dance nearly so much as the others, and--and whatever you did, you
were never in the least ridiculous. (_Earnestly_). You weren't,
_really_, EDWIN!

_Ed._ (_relieved_). Well. I thought you must have been exaggerating a
little. Why, look here, for all you know, you may have been mistaking
somebody else for me all the time--don't you see?

_Ang._ I--I am almost sure I did, now. Yes, why, of course--how stupid
I have been! It was someone very like you--not you at all!

_Ed._ (_resentfully_). Well, I must say, ANGELINA, that to give a
fellow a fright like this, all for nothing--

_Ang._ Yes--yes, it was all for nothing, it was so silly of me.
Forgive me, EDWIN, please!

_Ed._ (_still aggrieved_). I know for a fact that I didn't so much as
leave my chair, and to say I _danced_, ANGELINA!

_Ang._ (_eagerly_). But I _don't_. I remember now, you sat perfectly
still the whole time, he--he said he could do nothing with you, don't
you recollect? (_Aside._) Oh, what stories I'm telling!

_Ed._ (_with recovered dignity_). Of course I recollect--perfectly.
Well, ANGELINA, I'm not _annoyed_, of course, darling; but another
time, you should really try to observe more closely what _is_ done and
who _does_ it--before making all this fuss about nothing.

_Ang._ But you won't go and be mesmerised again, EDWIN--not after
this?

_Ed._ Well, you see, as I always said, it hasn't the slightest effect
on me. But from what I observed, I am perfectly satisfied that
the whole thing is a fraud. All those other fellows were obviously
accomplices, or they'd never have gone through such absurd
antics--would they now?

_Ang._ (_meekly_). No, dear, of course not. But don't let's talk any
more about it. There are so many things it's no use trying to explain.

* * * * *

HOW IT'S DONE.

(_A HAND-BOOK TO HONESTY._)

NO. VII.--SELLING A HORSE.

[Illustration]

SCENE I.--_A Horse-Sale. Inexperienced Person, in search of a
cheap but sound animal for business purposes, looking on in
a nervous and undecided manner, half tempted to bid