sir?" he questioned. And, by Jove, by
this time he showed his teeth. And devilish white, even teeth they were,
too, only they didn't fit.

"I never sit down, sir," he said stiffly; "never!"

"By Jove!" I explained.

"To be sure!" ejaculated Billings, looking extremely silly.

The professor appeared not ungratified with the sensation he had
produced and condescended to smile; that is, if you can call a creasing
and wrinkling like the cracked end of a hard-boiled egg a smile.

"You say, 'sit down,' sir," he said, addressing me. "I ask you, in
turn: Is not 'sitting down' recrudescence back to the primordial?"

So saying, he took a pinch at my shirt front and stepped back again
impressively. Still addressing me, he continued:

"It is such thoughtless indulgence of muscles growing obsolescent that
retards the evolution of our species, a species, sir, which I claim is
coessential in fundamental attributes with contemporaneous amphibia. Ha!
I surprise you, perhaps? Can you note in me a resemblance to a
batrachian?"

I didn't know. And, dash it, I was afraid to chance it. Tried my jolly
best to think what a batrachian was. It came to me like a flash that it
sounded like something in Italy.

"By Jove, you do, though, awfully!" I exclaimed, trying to brighten up
over it. "Doesn't he, Billings? Noticed a resemblance right off, don't
you know."

Billings went to nodding with an air of pleased surprise. Dash me if I
believed he knew what a batrachian was, though, any more than I did. But
Billings never admits anything.

"Sure," he said glibly. "I was half suspecting it; why, look at the
skin, you know--and features!"

"By Jove, yes!" I said, feeling encouraged. "Head, mouth, nose, eyes
and--" I was going to say "hair," but I remembered in time about the
wig.

The professor looked awfully pleased. He gave me a finger again.

"Such perspicacity--ah--is rare in one who looks so--"

He coughed slightly, then resumed:

"How gratifying, indeed, to meet another investigator! A student in
zootomy, no doubt? Ah! Do not deny it; I divined it at once. A
delightful recreation, sir--a game, absorbing but elusive."

"Awfully jolly, you know," I agreed. "Ripping, I say!"

"Surest thing you know," chirped Billings. I wondered if it was anything
like polo.

And then, by Jove, thinking of polo sent me off again thinking of
Frances. Not that she was like polo, dash it, but I wished she could see
me play.

The professor took