e birds are bad things till you know
them," he said sympathetically, as he put the hat down.

"My friend," said Bonaparte, holding out his hand, "I forgive you; do
not be disturbed. Whatever the consequences, I forgive you. I know, I
believe, it was with no ill-intent that you allowed me to go out. Give
me your hand. I have no ill-feeling; none!"

"You are very kind," said the German, taking the extended hand, and
feeling suddenly convinced that he was receiving magnanimous forgiveness
for some great injury, "you are very kind."

"Don't mention it," said Bonaparte.

He knocked out the crown of his caved-in old hat, placed it on the table
before him, leaned his elbows on the table and his face in his hands,
and contemplated it.

"Ah, my old friend," he thus apostrophized the hat, "you have served me
long, you have served me faithfully, but the last day has come. Never
more shall you be borne upon the head of your master. Never more shall
you protect his brow from the burning rays of summer or the cutting
winds of winter. Henceforth bare-headed must your master go. Good-bye,
good-bye, old hat!"

At the end of this affecting appeal the German rose. He went to the
box at the foot of his bed; out of it he took a black hat, which had
evidently been seldom worn and carefully preserved.

"It's not exactly what you may have been accustomed to," he said
nervously, putting it down beside the battered chimneypot, "but it might
be of some use--a protection to the head, you know."

"My friend," said Bonaparte, "you are not following my advice; you are
allowing yourself to be reproached on my account. Do not make yourself
unhappy. No; I shall go bare-headed."

"No, no, no!" cried the German energetically. "I have no use for the
hat, none at all. It is shut up in the box."

"Then I will take it, my friend. It is a comfort to one's own mind when
you have unintentionally injured any one to make reparation. I know the
feeling. The hat may not be of that refined cut of which the old one
was, but it will serve, yes, it will serve. Thank you," said Bonaparte,
adjusting it on his head, and then replacing it on the table. "I shall
lie down now and take a little repose," he added; "I much fear my
appetite for supper will be lost."

"I hope not, I hope not," said the German, reseating himself at his
work, and looking much concerned as Bonaparte stretched himself on the
bed and turned the end of the patchwork quilt over his feet.