"Very fine, my lord. Will your lordship play? Them that finds, wins—them that don't finds, loses."
"Play at what?" said I.
"Only at the thimble and pea, my lord."
"I never heard of such a game."
"Didn't you? Well, I'll soon teach you," said he, placing the table down. "All you have to do is to put a sovereign down on my table, and to find the pea, which I put under one of my thimbles. If you find it—and it is easy enough to find it—I give you a sovereign besides your own; for them that finds, wins."
"And them that don't find, loses," said I. "No, I don't wish to play."
"Why not, my lord?"
"Why, in the first place, I have no money."
"Oh, you have no money! That, of course, alters the case. If you have no money, you can't play. Well, I suppose I must be seeing after my customers," said he, glancing over the plain.
"Good day," said I.