that my sister had got past all the other dilemmas, but in a moment of
inadvertence had left the shoe question to him, with the result that he
had put on one russet shoe and one black one, and had laced them up
before discovering the discrepancy."

"I don't see anything very difficult in that situation," remarked John.

"Don't you?" she said scornfully. "No, I suppose not, but it was quite
enough for Julius, and more than enough for my sister and me. His first
notion was to take off _both_ shoes and begin all over again, and
perhaps if he had been allowed to carry it out he would have been all
right; but Alice was silly enough to suggest the obvious thing to
him--to take off one, and put on the mate to the other--and then the
trouble began. First he was in favor of the black shoes as being thicker
in the sole, and then he reflected that they hadn't been blackened since
coming on board. It seemed to him that the russets were more appropriate
anyway, but the blacks were easier to lace. Had I noticed whether the
men on board were wearing russet or black as a rule, and did Alice
remember whether it was one of the russets or one of the blacks that he
was saying the other day pinched his toe? He didn't quite like the looks
of a russet shoe with dark trousers, and called us to witness that those
he had on were dark; but he thought he remembered that it was the black
shoe which pinched him. He supposed he could change his trousers--and so
on, and so on, _al fine_, _de capo_, _ad lib._, sticking out first one
foot and then the other, lifting them alternately to his knee for
scrutiny, appealing now to Alice and now to me, and getting more
hopelessly bewildered all the time. It went on that way for, it seemed
to me, at least half an hour, and at last I said, 'Oh, come now, Julius,
take off the brown shoe--it's too thin, and doesn't go with your dark
trousers, and pinches your toe, and none of the men are wearing
them--and just put on the other black one, and come along. We're all
suffocating for some fresh air, and if you don't get started pretty soon
we sha'n't get on deck to-day.' 'Get on deck!' he said, looking up at me
with a puzzled expression, and holding fast to the brown shoe on his
knee with both hands, as if he were afraid I would take it away from him
by main strength--'get on deck! Why--why--I believe I'd better not go
out this morning, don't you?'"

"And then?" said John after a pause.

"Oh," she replied, "I looked