"I see no reason for that at all," he objected, feeling his waistcoat pocket. "The beans are in my possession."
"But if we are to revert to our former state of barbarism," Burton urged, "let us at least do so together."
"You are some time ahead of me," Mr. Waddington pointed out. "None of these warnings have come to you yet. It may be something wrong with my disposition, or the way I have swallowed my bean. Yours may be a permanent affair."
Burton hesitated. Then he threw himself into a chair and buried his face in his hands.
"My time is coming, too!" he confessed mournfully. "I am in the same position. Even while you were speaking just now, I felt a strong desire to deceive you, to invent some experience similar to your own."
"Are you sure of that?" Mr. Waddington asked anxiously.
"Quite sure!" Burton groaned.
"Then we are both of us in it, and that's a fact," Mr. Waddington affirmed.
Burton looked up.
"About those beans?"