"My dear," I began, "I—"
"How many meals of pole beans did we eat last summer?"
"I—don't—re—"
"Three—just three," she answered. "And I think you must remember how many of that row of poles we picked?"
"Why, yes, I—"
"Three—just three out of thirty poles! Now, do you think you remember how many bushels of those beans went utterly unpicked?"
I was visibly weakening by this time.
"Three—do you think?"
"Multiply that three by three-times-three! And now tell me—"
But this was too much.