"'Why don't you?'
"'Can't.'
"'Why not?'
"'Because I'm a born fool. We're fettered; we're prisoners of luxury.'
"Only a night or two before I had seen his wife at a reception with a rope of pearls in her riggin' an' a search-light o' diamonds on her forward deck an' a tiara-boom-de-ay at her masthead an' the flags of opulence flyin' fore an' aft.
"'If I were you,' I said, 'I'd sell everything—even the jewels.'
"'My poor wife!' he exclaimed. 'I haven't the heart to tell her all. She don't know how hard up we are!'
"'I wouldn't neglect her education if I were you,' I said. 'There's a kindness, you know, that's most unkind. Some day I shall write an article on the use an' abuse of tiaras—poor things! It isn't fair to overwork the family tiara. I suggest that you get a good-sized trunk an' lock it up with the other jewels for a vacation. If necessary your house could be visited by a burglar—that is, if you wanted to save the feelin's of your wife.'
"He turned with a puzzled look at me.
"'Is it possible that you haven't heard of that trick?' I asked—'a man of your talents!'