"Well, about the old maids?"
"Yes, you see the excellence of this English beef is due exclusively to red clover. Do you see the point?"
"All but the old maids. They are still hovering in the shadows."
"Why, don't you see? This red clover is enriched, sweetened, and fructified by bumble bees."
"But where do the old maids come in?" said the inquisitive American, wiping his brow wearily.
"Why, it is as plain as the nose on your face. The only enemy of the bumble bee is the field-mouse."
"But what have roast beef, red clover, bumble-bees, and field-mice got to do with old maids?"
"Why, you must be very obtuse. Don't you perceive that the bumble-bees would soon become exterminated by the field-mice if it were not for—"
"Old maids?"
"No, if it were not for cats, the old maids of Old England keep the country thoroughly stocked up with cats, and so we can directly trace the effects of the rosy English complexions to the benign cause of English old maids, at least that's what Huxley says about it, and that's just where the old maids come in. Science makes clear many mysterious things."