"Certainly, my love," was the cheerful reply; "what shall I say to him? That I disapprove of his practising the black art on my toast, and that I shall thank him to do it brown in future?"

"If you like to risk the chance, which is almost a certainty, that the man will misunderstand you, for the sake of making a stupid slang pun, I advise you to do so," was the captious reply.