"What is the subject of the lecture you are to give this evening?" he inquired with mock seriousness.
"Wasn't it printed on your ticket?"
"No, sir."
"No?" exclaimed Mr. Croyden in surprise. "A great oversight! The man who printed these tickets is a stupid fellow. I believe I shall have to discharge him and try somebody else. The subject of this evening's lecture is, of course,
Porcelain."
"Porcelain! Have we really come to porcelain at last!" cried Theo, much delighted.
"Yes, we have now finished with the potteries and earthenwares—at least for the present, and we shall begin on porcelain, the great art-work of the Chinese."
Mr. Croyden stopped to cram tobacco into his pipe.
"Already I have told you that the Chinese made beautiful porcelains from kaolin and petuntse, two clays which produced a hard, semi-transparent china," he began. "And I have also told you how for a long time they were the only nation to have a knowledge of the necessary ingredients for such a ware. I only wish I had here at this moment some specimens of the exquisite porcelains they have made that you might see them and get some idea of their richness and beauty. It is difficult to describe them in words."
"Maybe when we go home Father will take me to the Metropolitan Museum to see some Chinese porcelains," suggested Theo.