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Rh humbly, and hope you will permit me to do so."

"For what do you intend to apologize, Mr. Morris? For breaking the chair, or refusing to mend it when I asked you?"

"For both. I was really in a good deal of trouble just the moment before I ran against your chair, Miss Earle, and I hope you will excuse me on the ground of temporary insanity. Why, you know, they even let off murderers on that plea, so I hope to be forgiven for being careless in the first place, and boorish in the second."

"You are freely forgiven, Mr. Morris. In fact, now that I think more calmly about the incident, it was really a very trivial affair to get angry over, and I must confess I was angry."

"You were perfectly justified."

"In getting angry, perhaps; but in showing my anger, no—as someone says in a play. Meanwhile, we'll forget all about it," and with that the young lady rose, bidding her new acquaintance good-night.

George Morris found he had more appetite for dinner than he expected to have.