Gently slipping Juliet back into the water, Ken scattered some food on the surface.
Both fish rose to the occasion and greedily ate the floating particles.
"That's the trouble," said Ken. "They have no judgment. They overeat, and then they die of apoplexy. And, too, if they eat too much, you can't train them to stand on their tails and beg."
"Oh, will they learn to do that? And what else can we teach them?"
"Oh, anything acrobatic; trapeze work and that. But they're sleepy now; you fed them too much for just an afternoon tea. Let's leave them to their nap, and train them after they wake up."
"All right; let's sit down and talk seriously."
"Patty, you're always ready to talk seriously of late. That's why I brought you some Nonsense Fish, to lighten your mood a little."
"Don't you worry about my mood, Ken; it's light enough. But I want you to help me earn my living for a week. Will you?"
"That I will not! I'll be no party to your foolishness."
"Now, Ken," went on Patty, for she knew his "bark was worse than his bite," "I don't want you to do anything much. But, in your law office, where you're studying, aren't there some papers I can copy, or something like that?"
"Patty, you're a back number. That 'copying' that you mean is all out of date. In these days of typewriters and manifold thigamajigs, we lawyers don't have much copying done by hand. Except, perhaps, engrossing. Can you do that?"
"How prettily you say 'we lawyers,'" teased Patty.
"Of course I do. I'm getting in practice against the time it'll be true. But if you really want to copy, buy a nice Spencerian Copy-book, and fill up its pages. It'll be about as valuable as any other work of the sort."
"I'm crool only to be kind! You must know, Patty, that copying is out of the question."
"Well, never mind then; let's talk of something else."
"'Let's sit upon the ground and tell strange stories of the death of kings.'"
"Oh, Ken, that reminds me. You know my crystal ball?"
"I do indeed; I selected it with utmost care."
"Yes, it's a gem. Perfectly flawless. Well, I'll get it, and see if we can see things in it."
Patty ran for her crystal, and returning to the library held it up to the fading sunlight, and tried to look into it.
"That isn't the way, Patty; you have to lay it on black velvet, or something dark."