“Thank you,” said I, “it’s a fine day.”
“Very fine, my lord; will your lordship play? Them that finds, wins—them that don’t finds, loses.”
“Play at what?” said I.
“Only at the thimble and pea, my lord.”
“I never heard of such a game.”
“Didn’t you? Well, I’ll soon teach you,” said he, placing the table down. “All you have to do is to put a sovereign down on my table, and to find the pea, which I put under one of my thimbles. If you can find it,—and it is easy enough to find it,—I give you a sovereign besides your own: for them that finds, wins.”
“And them that don’t find, loses,” said I; “no, I don’t wish to play.”
“Why not, my lord?”
“Why, in the first place, I have no money.”
“Oh, you have no money; that of course alters the case. If you have no money, you can’t play. Well, I suppose I must be seeing after my customers,” said he, glancing over the plain.