Page:The woman, the man, and the monster (IA womanmanmonster00dawe).pdf/225

 gaily. “We have just got to do the best we can with a bad bargain.”

“All the same,” said the old lady seriously, “if you wouldn’t mind I should like to ’ave that receipt.”

Andromeda laughed so heartily that Perseus could not refrain from joining in.

“But don’t you know it?”

“Should I be asking if I did?”

“But you're not thinking of doing it again?” she asked in an awed whisper.

“Why not?” inquired the old lady somewhat sharply.

“Why not indeed?” said Perseus gravely.

“Of course, why not? But you should not want the receipt from me. I am only a beginner.”

“T’ve known some beginners as could teach the oldsters a bit—what do ’ee say, sir?”

“The inscrutable wisdom of Providence has endowed woman with a superabundance of strategy.”

“What do ’ee mean by that?”

“Merely that a man isn’t in it with a woman.”

“I dunno. Selton was good enough in his