ome
miles away in a bank.

For reasons best known to myself, and not too clearly appreciated even
in that quarter, I am always full of petty cash at the beginning of
the month and out of it at the end. My wife never draws any at all,
knowing it is much safer where it is, and as for Albert, our only son,
he takes no interest in the stuff. When we, in moments of self-denial,
slip a coin into the slit of his money-box, he is merely bored, being
as yet unable to unlock the box and get the coin out again, owing to
ignorance of the whereabouts of the key. I explained all this to the
telegraph boy, but his heart didn't soften; so, still parleying with
him in the porch, I sent the maid to my wife to see what she could do
to ease the financial position.

The maid returned with a shilling, which was my wife's limit, and this
I tendered to the boy, explaining to him the theory of discount for
net cash. But he was one of those small and obstinate creatures who
won't learn, so I sent him round to the back premises to get some
tea, while I retired to the front to do some thinking. It was at
this moment that Albert chose, imprudently, to make an important
announcement from the top of the stairs with regard to a first tooth,
which he had lost by extraction the day before but had not yet been
able to forget. His idea was that he should come down and inspect
it once more; but I paid no heed to this. His mention of the matter
suggested, when I came to think of it, a solution of my difficulty
with the telegraph boy.

Later, I asked my wife to step into my study and to shut the door
behind her. "This has become a serious matter," said I; "nay, it
threatens to be a grave scandal. You remember Albert's tooth?"

She did. These things are not easily forgotten. "I wish," I pursued,
"to interview Albert's nurse as to it," and I rang the bell sternly.

"She hasn't got it," said my wife; "we have," and she took from the
mantelpiece a small packet tied up with pink ribbon.

I explained that it wasn't the child's molar but the child's funds
that I was concerned with. "You will recollect that I compensated him
for the loss of it with a shilling. It makes it all the more poignant
that it was my last shilling. I put it into his money-box, the key of
which is accessible to miscreants. That shilling is gone!"

My wife smiled. "How did you find out?" she asked.

"I had reason to be looking in the box," I said airily, "and happened
by chance to no