"
"Well, Regie," he answered, "I think you have made out a good case.
But the question which now remains is, whether Mrs. Bundle will have
your young friends in the nursery."
But Mrs. Bundle's horror at my remarks was too great to admit of her
even entering into the joke.
The monkeys were somewhat driven from my mind by the wit and wisdom of
the elephant, and the condescension displayed by so large an animal
in accepting the light refreshment of penny buns. After he had had
several, Leo began to tease him, holding out a bun and snatching it
away again. As he was holding it out for the fourth or fifth time, the
elephant extended his trunk as usual, but instead of directing it
towards the bun, he deliberately snatched the black velvet cap from
Leo's head and swallowed it with a grunt of displeasure. Leo was first
frightened, and then a good deal annoyed by the universal roar of
laughter which his misfortune occasioned. But he was a good-tempered
boy, and soon joined in the laugh himself. Then, as we could not buy
him a new cap in the Gardens, he was obliged to walk about for the
rest of the time bare-headed; and many were the people who turned
round to look a second time after the beautiful boy with the long fair
hair--a fact of which Master Lionel was not quite unconscious, I
think.
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