"You didn't tell him--that they were genuine!" Burton gasped.

Mr. Waddington shook his head.

"No," he admitted, "I did not go so far as that. Still, it was almost
as great a shock to me. I felt a distinct impulse to tell him that they
were. A few days ago, such an idea would never have entered my head.
It would have been a sheer impossibility."

"Anything else?"

Mr. Waddington hesitated. He seemed to be feeling the shame of these
avowals.

"This morning," he confessed, "I passed the door of the Golden Lion on
my way to the office. For the first time since--you know when--I felt a
desire--a faint desire but still it was there--to go in and chaff Milly
and have a pint of beer in a tankard. I didn't go, of course, but I
felt the impulse, nevertheless."

Burton had turned very pale.

"This," he exclaimed, "is terrible! What have you done with the rest of
the beans?"

"I have nine," Mr. Waddington replied. "I carry them in my waistcoat
pocket. I am perfectly convinced now that there is trouble ahead, for
on my way up the stairs here I felt a strong inclination to tell you
that I had lost them, in case you should want any."

"It would be only fair," Burton declared warmly, "to divide them." Mr.
Waddington frowned.

"I see no reason for that at all," he objected, feeling his waistcoat
pocket. "The beans are in my possession."

"But if we are to revert to our former state of barbarism," Burton
urged, "let us at least do so together."

"You are some time ahead of me," Mr. Waddington pointed out. "None of
these warnings have come to you yet. It may be something wrong with my
disposition, or the way I have swallowed my bean. Yours may be a
permanent affair."

Burton hesitated. Then he threw himself into a chair and buried his
face in his hands.

"My time is coming, too!" he confessed mournfully. "I am in the same
position. Even while you were speaking just now, I felt a strong desire
to deceive you, to invent some experience similar to your own."

"Are you sure of that?" Mr. Waddington asked anxiously.

"Quite sure!" Burton groaned.

"Then we are both of us in it, and that's a fact," Mr. Waddington
affirmed.

Burton looked up.

"About those beans?"

Mr. Waddington thought for some few moments.

"I shall keep five and give you four," he decided. "It is treating you
very generously. I am not obliged to give you any at all, you know. I
am doing it because I am good-natured and because we are in t