hought he
proposed to repeat his first performance, but in this I did him an
injustice, for, unlike Porthos, he was one who scorned to do the same
feat twice; perhaps, like the conjurors, he knew that the audience were
more on the alert the second time.

I discovered that he wanted me to take off his sock!

Remembering Irene's dread warnings on this subject I must say that I
felt uneasy. Had he heard her, and was he daring me? And what dire thing
could happen if the sock was removed? I sought to reason with him, but
he signed to me to look sharp, and I removed the sock. The part of him
thus revealed gave David considerable pleasure, but I noticed, as a
curious thing, that he seemed to have no interest in the other foot.

However, it was not there merely to be looked at, for after giving me
a glance which said "Now observe!" he raised his bare foot and ran his
mouth along the toes, like one playing on a barbaric instrument. He then
tossed his foot aside, smiled his long triumphant smile and intimated
that it was now my turn to do something. I thought the best thing I
could do would be to put his sock on him again, but as soon as I tried
to do so I discovered why Irene had warned me so portentously against
taking it off. I should say that she had trouble in socking him every
morning.

Nevertheless I managed to slip it on while he was debating what to do
with my watch. I bitterly regretted that I could do nothing with it
myself, put it under a wine-glass, for instance, and make it turn into
a rabbit, which so many people can do. In the meantime David, occupied
with similar thoughts, very nearly made it disappear altogether, and I
was thankful to be able to pull it back by the chain.

"Haw-haw-haw!"

Thus he commented on his new feat, but it was also a reminder to me, a
trifle cruel, that he was not my boy. After all, you see, Mary had not
given him the whole of his laugh. The watch said that five and twenty
minutes had passed, and looking out I saw Irene at one end of the street
staring up at my window, and at the other end Mary's husband staring up
at my window, and beneath me Mary staring up at my window. They had all
broken their promise.

I returned to David, and asked him in a low voice whether he would give
me a kiss. He shook his head about six times, and I was in despair. Then
the smile came, and I knew that he was teasing me only. He now nodded
his head about six times.

This was the prettiest of all his