"My dear Jenny," he said to Mrs. Avory, "how am I to get a horse to do you
credit, if you hurry me so? A horse is an animal requiring the most careful
study. Each one of its four legs needs separate consideration. I should
have liked some weeks of thought. The dog, too. Just as there is only one
satisfactory horse in the world for each family, so is there only one
satisfactory dog; and you ask me to get both in a few minutes."
He lay back and fanned himself.
Then he pulled two pennies from his pocket and gave them to Gregory, and
told him to go to the station bookstall and bring back the _Exchange_ and
_Mart._
The _Exchange_ and _Mart,_ as perhaps you may not know, is, without any
exaggeration, the most delightful paper in the world. It contains nothing
that one dislikes to read about, such as accidents, murders, suicides,
politics, and criticisms of concerts; it contains nothing whatever of such
things, while, on the other hand, it is packed with matters of real
interest. It tells you who has dogs for sale, and rabbits for sale, and
magic-lanterns for sale, and cameras for sale, and bicycles for sale, and
guinea-pigs for sale,--all at a bargain,--and it tells you also who wants
to buy rabbits and cameras and guinea-pigs; and it also tells you who wants
to exchange rabbits for a gun, or a dog for a fishing-rod, or a gramophone
for a parrot.
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