tache."

"Thanks," said Mr. Poddle, promptly. "Glad to know it. Can't afford
to lose no more hirsute adornment. And I'm give to ravagin' it in
moments of excitement, especially sorrow. Always tell me."

"I will," the boy gravely promised.

"The Pink-eyed Albino," Mr. Poddle continued, now released from the
necessity of commanding his feelings, in so far as the protection of
his hair was concerned, "was fancy; the Circassian Beauty was
fascination; the Female Sampson was the hallugination of sky-blue
tights; but the Mexican Sword Swallower," he murmured, with a
melancholy wag, "is----"

"Mr. Poddle," the boy warned, "you are--at it again."

"Thanks," said Mr. Poddle, hastily eliminating the danger. "What I was
about to remark," was his lame conclusion, "was that the Mexican Sword
Swallower is _love_."

"Oh!"

The Dog-faced Man snapped a sigh in two. "Richard," he insinuated
suspiciously, "what you sayin', 'Oh!' for?"

"Wasn't the Bearded Lady, love?"

"Love!" laughed Mr. Poddle. "Ha, ha! Far from it! Not so! The
Bearded Lady was the snare of ambition. 'Marriage Arranged Between the
Young Duke of Blueblood and the Daughter of the Clothes-pin King.
Millions of the Higgleses to Repair the Duke's Shattered Fortunes.'
Git me? 'Wedding of the Bearded Lady and the Dog-faced Man. Sunday
Afternoon at Hockley's Popular Musee. No Extra Charge for Admission.
Fabulous Quantity of Human Hair on Exhibition At the Same Instant.
Hirsute Wonders To Tour the Country at Enormous Expense.' Git me?
Same thing. Love? Ha, ha! Not so! There's no more love in _that_,"
Mr. Poddle concluded, bitterly, "than----"

"Mr. Poddle, you are----"

"Thanks," faltered Mr. Poddle. "As I was about to remark when
you--ah--come to the rescue--love is froze out of high life. Us
natural phenomenons is the slaves of our inheritages."

"But you said the Bearded Lady was love at last!"

"'Duke Said To Be Madly In Love With the American Beauty,'" Mr. Poddle
composedly replied.

"I don't quite--get you?"

"Us celebrities has our secrets. High life is hollow. Public must be
took into account. 'Sacrificed On His Country's Altar.' Git me?
'Good of the Profession.' Broken hearts--and all that."

"Would you have broken the Bearded Lady's heart?"

Mr. Poddle was by this recalled to his own lamentable condition. "I've
gone and broke my own," he burst out; "for I'm give to understand that
the lovely Sword Swallower is got entan