the
sugar-bowl has shown me that there is another poem ready for the
company. That receptacle is looked upon with an almost tremulous
excitement by more than one of The Teacups. The two Annexes turn towards
the mystic urn as if the lots which were to determine their destiny were
shut up in it. Number Five, quieter, and not betraying more curiosity
than belongs to the sex at all ages, glances at the sugarbowl now
and then; looking so like a clairvoyant, that sometimes I cannot help
thinking she must be one. There is a sly look about that young Doctor's
eyes, which might imply that he knows something about what the silver
vessel holds, or is going to hold. The Tutor naturally falls under
suspicion, as he is known to have written and published poems. I
suppose the Professor and myself have hardly been suspected of writing
love-poems; but there is no telling,--there is no telling. Why may not
some one of the lady Teacups have played the part of a masculine lover?
George Sand, George Eliot, Charles Egbert Craddock, made pretty good
men in print. The authoress of "Jane Eyre" was taken for a man by many
persons. Can Number Five be masquerading in verse? Or is one of the
two Annexes the make believe lover? Or did these girls lay their heads
together, and send the poem we had at our last sitting to puzzle the
company? It is certain that the Mistress did not write the poem. It
is evident that Number Seven, who is so severe in his talk about
rhymesters, would not, if he could, make such a fool of himself as to
set up for a "poet." Why should not the Counsellor fall in love and
write verses? A good many lawyers have been "poets."

Perhaps the next poem, which may be looked for in its proper place, may
help us to form a judgment. We may have several verse-writers among us,
and if so there will be a good opportunity for the exercise of judgment
in distributing their productions among the legitimate claimants. In
the mean time, we must not let the love-making and the song-writing
interfere with the more serious matters which these papers are expected
to contain.

Number Seven's compendious and comprehensive symbolism proved
suggestive, as his whimsical notions often do. It always pleases me to
take some hint from anything he says when I can, and carry it out in a
direction not unlike that of his own remark. I reminded the company of
his enigmatical symbol.

You can divide mankind in the same way, I said. Two words, each of
two let