"Very good--excellent! But you, my son, why didn't you come and say, 'Uncle, I love her, she loves me, hands off!'"
"But I did not know if she still loved me."
"Splendid! You are a precious pair of innocents, you two. When did you finally find out?"
"To-day--while you were asleep."
And now came a terrible story. After dinner, on leaving the table, a single handshake in silence showed each how miserable the other one was, and seeing no way out, they decided to die that very night.
"What! You, too?"
Instead of answering Iolanthe pulled out of her pocket a little bottle from which a human skull grinned at me.
"What's that?"
"Cyanide of potassium."
"The devil! Where did you get that from?"