“You were half-asleep,” said the Donkey.
“Ever since I moved,” repeated the Bear.
Now, Buddie did not pretend to be as wise as the Donkey, but she had wit enough to perceive that there was some connection between the Bear’s May moving and his lying awake o’nights. So she inquired:
“Don’t you like the new place you moved to?”
“Oh, yes; quite well, indeed,” was the reply. “The neighborhood is the very best; the rooms are large and well lighted, with fine hardrock floors; the roof doesn’t leak, and altogether it’s the best place I ever lived in. But the trouble is, I can’t decide how to furnish my den. Here it is August, and I haven’t done a thing to it. It’s on my mind night and day. One person advises this, another that, another something else. Would you say black curtains or pink?” the Bear asked Buddie.
“Oh, pink,” she replied, as that was her favorite color.
“That’s what Doctor Goose advises; but Doctor Fox thinks black would be better, as it would harmonize with my fur.”
“It seems to me,” said the Donkey, “that such matters might be left to Mrs. Bear.”
“There isn’t any,” returned the Bear, with a sigh. “I’m a bachelor.”