“To what degraded depths have you sunken! I find you here hob-a-nobbing with thingummybobs and what’s-his-names.”
“Here, I say, hold on!” interrupted the Archæopteryx. “If you mean us, you know, we are——”
“Thingummybobs and what’s-his-names,” repeated the Court Glover, waving his hand contemptuously. “Was it to create an impression amongst such creatures as these that you ran off with the very best pair of white kid gloves in the whole collection belonging to His Importance the Little Panjandrum? Oh, Dodo! Dodo! Dodo! it is too much!”
“How much too much?” inquired the Palæotherium, kindly taking out his purse.
The Court Glover waved him aside with an impatient scowl.
“The vanity of the bird!” he went on—“white kid, above all others! Why, you might have taken a dozen pairs of colored cotton gloves, and no one would have minded in the least; but best white kid—oh! shocking! shocking! And look at the state you’ve made them in! But there—what can be expected of a creature that goes wandering about the world visiting what-you-may-call-ems.”
"'Bear up, old man,' said the Archæopteryx."
“Of course, there’s nothing to be done,” continued the Court Glover, after an impressive pause, “but to execute you.”