“Don’t believe you know yourselves!”
They declared it a secret which could not be lightly shared, but in giving way to the general appeal, explained that if the first figure was (say) one, then she had used a sentence beginning with the first letter of the alphabet, such as:
“All quiet, please!”
If the next was two, she said:
“Be quiet, please!”
If the next was three:
“Can’t you be quiet!”
And so on. Parcels came in now and strings were cut, and presents given to the owner of the day. She thanked him very prettily for the brooch and pinned it at once near to her neck; he followed her out of the room to help in carrying the brown paper and to tell her that, when his birthday came, she could reciprocate by offering him the precious gift of herself. The quarrel had been all his fault. He was bending down to touch her lips when—
“No, thank you,” he said, tearing up the fourth slip. “The present time is good enough for me. Is this the way out?”
“Interesting to observe,” remarked the voice, as the curtain went back and showed the exit, “that our clients, however dissatisfied they may be in entering, are always perfectly content when they depart!”