First Well-informed Man (concluding a tirade). —— so what I want to know is this: are we or are we not to submit to the Yankees? It's all very well talking about Chicago Exhibitions and all that, but if they're going to capture our ships and prevent us killing seals, why, the sooner we tell 'em to go to blue blazes the better. And as for its being a mare clausum——
Inquirer (interrupting). Who was she? What's she got to do with it?
First W. I. M. (laughing vigorously). Ha! ha! that's a good 'un.
Inquirer (nettled). Oh, laugh away, laugh away. That's you all over.
First W. I. M. My dear chap, I'm very sorry, but I really couldn't help it. There's no woman in the business at all. Mare clausum merely means the place where they catch the seals, you know; mare, Latin for sea.
Inquirer. Oh! I should have known that directly, if you'd only pronounced it properly. But what does clausum mean?
First W. I. M. Well, of course, that means—well, a clause, don't you know. It's in the treaty.
Average Man (looking up from his paper). It used to be the Latin for "closed," but I suppose it's altered now.
First W. I. M. (incredulously). It can't mean that, anyhow. Who ever heard of a closed sea, I should like to know?