"Oh bother! write a note, of course."
"Well, you are a greeney, Tom. Where's the pen, ink, and paper to come from?"
"Why, hasn't ole Nosey——?"
"Old Nosey, be hanged! Of course he hasn't, any more than he's got a dress suit and a toilet mirror."
"I've got a pencil," said Joe, feeling in his pocket.
"No good in the world; where's the paper to come from; an' supposin' we had pens, ink, paper, blotting-pads, writing desks, and whatever else you like to name in the scribbling line, what good 'ud it all be?"
"Meaning——?"
"Meanin' this, you dunderheads—it's got to be read."
"Well?"
"Well!—of all the thick-heads, muddle-pates, soft-uns, hodges, and idiots that ever I came across——!"