"Never heard of 'em avore, sir."
"A penny weekly journal exists upon its picture puzzles," George continued. "The last time I went away I bought one of these papers. The competition interested me, as the pictures represented the names of certain railway stations, and that's a subject I know as much about as any man in England."
"I don't know as I quite get your meaning," said the baker.
"I'll explain. Suppose the picture is intended to represent Marylebone. You may be shown a drawing of a little girl eating a mutton chop. Of course, you are expected to have some brains."
"I wouldn't use mine vor such a purpose," said the baker somewhat sharply.
"It's quite simple when you've got the trick. You have to assume the little girl's name is Mary, and le is French for the, and there's more bone than anything else in a mutton chop. Well, I went in for this competition, and I've won second prize. I don't know why I didn't get the first, but perhaps that was suppressed for economic reasons."
"I suppose it would be the same sort of thing as a flower show," suggested Dyer. "I got second prize for carrots once. It should ha' been half a crown, but they ran short o' money, so I got only eighteen pence, and I never showed again."
"My prize was worth winning," said George, who had really received a solatium of ten shillings. "It was fifty pounds."
Dyer repeated the amount, firstly as a shout of admiration, secondly as a whisper of covetousness; then he released all kinds of exclamations for some moments; and presently observed with emotion:
"Education does it, sir! If I could ha' gone to a big school, and to the University, I might ha' gone in vor them pictures too. Little gal eating a mutton chop—well done, sir! They'm nought but bone as you ses. You found out her name wur Mary, and you talked French, and you learned all about the railways. Ah, that's wonderful! But I fancy, sir, you must ha' used a map."