ally left
out his pass-book the other day, and I peeped into it. Don't you think
that a husband ought to give his wife his entire confidence in his money
matters? Well, I do; and--will you believe it?--he has never told me
what his income really is, and I want, very naturally, to find out. Can
you tell me what it is from the figures I have given you?"

Yes; the answer can certainly be given from the figures contained in
Mrs. Perkins's letter. And my readers, if not warned, will be
practically unanimous in declaring the income to be--something absurdly
in excess of the correct answer!

32.--THE EXCURSION TICKET PUZZLE.

When the big flaming placards were exhibited at the little provincial
railway station, announcing that the Great ---- Company would run cheap
excursion trains to London for the Christmas holidays, the inhabitants
of Mudley-cum-Turmits were in quite a flutter of excitement. Half an
hour before the train came in the little booking office was crowded with
country passengers, all bent on visiting their friends in the great
Metropolis. The booking clerk was unaccustomed to dealing with crowds of
such a dimension, and he told me afterwards, while wiping his manly
brow, that what caused him so much trouble was the fact that these
rustics paid their fares in such a lot of small money.

He said that he had enough farthings to supply a West End draper with
change for a week, and a sufficient number of threepenny pieces for the
congregations of three parish churches. "That excursion fare," said he,
"is nineteen shillings and ninepence, and I should like to know in just
how many different ways it is possible for such an amount to be paid in
the current coin of this realm."

Here, then, is a puzzle: In how many different ways may nineteen
shillings and ninepence be paid in our current coin? Remember that the
fourpenny-piece is not now current.

33.--PUZZLE IN REVERSALS.

Most people know that if you take any sum of money in pounds, shillings,
and pence, in which the number of pounds (less than L12) exceeds that of
the pence, reverse it (calling the pounds pence and the pence pounds),
find the difference, then reverse and add this difference, the result is
always L12, 18s. 11d. But if we omit the condition, "less than L12," and
allow nought to represent shillings or pence--(1) What is the lowest
amount to which the rule will not apply? (2) What is the highest amount
to which it will apply? Of course, when r