above; and that one will tell her particular friend, the man that keeps the game-shop; and he will tell his friend the sergeant of police; and the sergeant will tell his captain, and the captain will tell the magistrate, and the magistrate will tell his brother-in-law the county judge, and the county judge will tell the sheriff, and the sheriff will tell the Lord Mayor, and the Lord Mayor will tell the President of the Council, and the President of the Council will tell the—”

“By George, but it’s a wonderful scheme, Tommy! How ever did you—”

“—Rear-Admiral, and the Rear will tell the Vice, and the Vice will tell the Admiral of the Blue, and the Blue will tell the Red, and the Red will tell the White, and the White will tell the First Lord of the Admiralty, and the First Lord will tell the Speaker of the House, and the Speaker—”

“Go it, Tommy; you’re ’most there!”

“—will tell the Master of the Hounds, and the Master will tell the Head Groom of the Stables, and the Head Groom will tell the Chief Equerry, and the Chief Equerry will tell the First Lord in Waiting, and the First Lord will tell the Lord High Chamber-lain, and the Lord High Chamberlain will tell the Master of the Household, and the Master of the Household will tell the little pet page that fans the flies off the Emperor, and the page will get down on his knees and whisper it to his Majesty—and the game’s made!”

“I’ve got to get up and hurrah a couple of times, Tommy. It’s the grandest idea that ever was. What ever put it into your head?”

“Sit down and listen, and I’ll give you some wisdom—and don’t you ever forget it as long as you live. Now, then, who is the closest friend you’ve got, and the one you couldn’t and wouldn’t ever refuse anything in the world to?”

“Why, it’s you, Tommy. You know that.”

“Suppose you wanted to ask a pretty large favor of the cat’s-meat man. Well, you don’t know him, and he would tell you to go to thunder, for he is that kind of a person; but he is my next best friend after you, and would run his legs off to do me a kindness—any kindness, he don’t care what it is. Now, I’ll ask you: which is the most common-sensible—for you to go and ask him to tell the chestnut-woman about your watermelon cure, or for you to get me to do it for you?”

“To get you to do it for me, of course. I wouldn’t ever have thought of that, Tommy; it’s splendid!”

“It’s a philosophy, you see. Mighty good word—and large. It goes on this idea: everybody in the world, little and big, has one special friend, a friend that he’s glad to do favors to—not sour about it, but glad—glad clear to the marrow. And so, I don’t care where you start, you can get at anybody’s ear that you want to—I don’t care how low you are, nor how high he is. And it’s so simple: you’ve only to find the first friend, that is all; that ends your part of the work. He finds the next friend himself, and that one finds the third, and so on, friend after friend, link after link, like a chain; and you can go up it or down it, as high as you like or as low as you like.”

“It’s just beautiful, Tommy.”

“It’s as simple and easy as a-b-c; but did you ever hear of anybody trying it? No; everybody is a fool. He goes to a stranger without any introduction, or writes him a letter, and of course he strikes a cold wave—and serves him gorgeously right. Now, the Emperor don’t know me, but that’s no matter—he’ll eat his watermelon to-morrow. You’ll see. Hi-hi—stop! It’s the cat’s-meat man. Good-by, Jimmy; I’ll overtake him.”

He did overtake him, and said:

“Say, will you do me a favor?”