"I should certainly be very well repaid for my visit," said I, "if I thought you did."
"Won't that amuse the Captain!" she exclaimed.
"So the Captain wrote it," I said, not knowing in the least who the Captain was. "Tell me, has he chin whiskers?"
"Why?" asked Anthy.
"Well, when I read that editorial," I said, beginning again to enjoy the give and take of the conversation, "I imagined the sort of man who must have written it: chin whiskers, spectacles low on his nose, very severe on all young things."
Anthy looked at Fergus.
"And does he by any chance"—I inquired in as serious a manner as I could command, "I mean, of course, when he is angry—kick the cat?"
At this Fergus came down with a bang on all four legs of his chair, and we all laughed together.
"Say," said Fergus, "I don't know who ye are, but ye're all right!"