he replied, looking
rather shy and surprised.

'Allow me, missy,' he persisted, 'to pass you the strawberry-jam and
the muffins!'

'I'll have some jam, thank you,' she replied.

He looked round and chuckled. 'Oh, I say; that little gal said "thank
you" before she got it!' he exclaimed. 'There ain't no muffins, and I've
eaten all the jam!' which made Tommy choke with laughter.

Barbara flushed. 'That's a very stupid joke,' she pronounced severely,
'and rude, too; it's a pity you weren't taught to behave better when you
were young.'

'So I was!' said the clown, with his mouth full.

'Then you've forgotten it,' she said; 'you're nothing but a big baby,
that you are!'

'Yah!' retorted the clown; 'so are _you_ a big baby!' which, as even
Tommy saw, was not a very brilliant reply. It was a singular fact about
the clown that the slightest check seemed to take away all his
brilliancy.

'You know you're not telling the truth now,' said Barbara, so
contemptuously, that the clown began to weep bitterly. 'She says I don't
speak the truth!' he complained, 'and she _knows_ it will be my aunt's
birthday last Toosday!'

'You great silly thing, what has that to do with it?' cried Barbara,
indignantly. 'What _is_ there to cry about?' which very nearly made
Tommy quarrel with her, for why couldn't she be polite to _his_ friend?

However, the clown soon dried his eyes on the tablecloth, and recovered
his cheerfulness; and presently he noticed the _Times_ lying folded by
Tommy's papa's plate.

'Oh, I say, mister,' he said, 'shall I air the newspaper for yer?'

'Thank you, if you will,' was the polite reply.

He shook it all out in one great sheet and wrapped it round him, and
waddled about in it until Tommy nearly rolled off his seat with delight.

'When you've _quite_ done with it----' his father was saying mildly, as
the clown made a great hole in the middle and thrust his head out of it
with a bland smile.

'I'm only just looking through it,' he explained; 'you can have it now,'
and he rolled it up in a tight ball and threw it at his host's head.

Breakfast was certainly not such a dull meal as usual that morning,
Tommy thought; but he wished his people would show a little more
appreciation, instead of sitting there all stiff and surprised; he was
afraid the clown would feel discouraged.

When his papa undid the ball, the paper was found to be torn into long
strips, which delighted Tommy; but his father, on the othe