The thought went sharply through my head: Is his next tirade to be on mastodons? Till I remembered with relief that the animal was extinct, at all events in England.
§ 4.
With but little further talk we had nearly reached my rooms, when he said abruptly:
“A lark! Can’t you hear it? Over there, in that wretched little gold-fish shop again.”
But I could only hear the sounds of traffic.
“It’s your imagination,” I said. “It really is too lively on the subject of birds and beasts.”
“I tell you,” he persisted, “there’s a caged lark there. Very likely, half-a-dozen.”
“My dear fellow,” I said, “suppose there are! We could go and buy them and set them free, but it would only encourage the demand. Or we could assault the shopmen. Do you recommend that?”
“I don’t joke on this subject,” he answered shortly.
“But surely,” I said, “if we can’t do anything to help the poor things we had better keep our ears from hearing.”