‘Then the advice I’ve poured on you, So full of wisdom and of wit: All given gratis, though ’tis true I might have fairly charged for it! But I refrain from mentioning Full many a deed I might relate— For boasting is a kind of thing That I particularly hate.
[Illustration: ‘I WILL LEND YOU FIFTY MORE!’]
‘How vast the total sum appears Of all the kindnesses I’ve done, From Childhood’s half-forgotten years Down to that Loan of April One! That Fifty Pounds! You little guessed How deep it drained my slender store: But there’s a heart within this breast, And _I will lend you fifty more_!’
‘Not so,’ was Peter’s mild reply, His cheeks all wet with grateful tears: ‘No man recalls, so well as I, Your services in bygone years: And this new offer, I admit, Is very very kindly meant— Still, to avail myself of it Would not be quite convenient!’
You’ll see in a moment what the difference is between ‘convenient’ and ‘inconvenient.’ You quite understand it now, don’t you?” he added, looking kindly at Bruno, who was sitting, at Sylvie’s side, on the floor.
“Yes,” said Bruno, very quietly. Such a short speech was very unusual, for him: but just then he seemed, I fancied, a little exhausted. In fact, he climbed up into Sylvie’s lap as he spoke, and rested his head against her shoulder. “What a many verses it was!” he whispered.
The Other Professor regarded him with some anxiety. “The smaller animal ought to go to bed _at once_,” he said with an air of authority.
“Because he can’t go at twice,” said the Other Professor.
The Professor gently clapped his hands. “Isn’t he _wonderful_!” he said to Sylvie. “Nobody else could have thought of the reason, so quick. Why, _of course_ he ca’n’t go at twice! It would hurt him to be divided.”
This remark woke up Bruno, suddenly and completely. “I don’t want to be _divided_,” he said decisively.
“It does very well on a _diagram_,” said the Other Professor. “I could show it you in a minute, only the chalk’s a little blunt.”
“Take care!” Sylvie anxiously exclaimed, as he began, rather clumsily, to point it. “You’ll cut your finger off, if you hold the knife so!”
“If oo cuts it off, will oo give it to _me_, please?” Bruno thoughtfully added.
“It’s like this,” said the Other Professor, hastily drawing a long line upon the black board, and marking the letters ‘_A_,’ ‘_B_,’ at the two ends, and ‘_C_’ in the middle: “let me explain it to you. If _AB_ were to be divided into two parts at _C_——”