"I-didn-tsee-an-thing th-matter-withem," whistled Whistlebinkie. "They looked to me like firs-cla.s.s-sm.u.f.fins."
"No doubt," said the Unwiseman. "That"s because you don"t know much. But they couldn"t fool me. If I"d wanted plain m.u.f.fins I could have asked for them, but when I ask for a m.u.f.fin by special appointment to his h. r. h. the King I want them to give me what I ask for. Perhaps you didn"t observe that not one of those m.u.f.fins she brought out was set with diamonds and rubies."
"Now that you mention it," said Mollie, "I remember they weren"t."
"Prezactly," said the Unwiseman. "They weren"t even gold mounted, or silver plated, or anything to make "em different from the plain every day m.u.f.fins that you can buy in a baker"s shop at home. I don"t believe they were by special appointment to anybody--not even a nearl, much less the King. I guess they think we Americans don"t know anything over here--but they"re barking up the wrong tree if they think they can fool me."
"We-mightuv-tastedum!" whistled Whistlebinkie much disappointed, because he always did love the things at the baker"s. "You can"t tell just by lookin" at a m.u.f.fin whether it"s good or not."
"Well go back and taste them," retorted the Unwiseman. "It"s your taste--only if I had as little taste as you have I wouldn"t waste it on that stuff. Ah--this is the place I"ve been looking for."
The old man"s eyes had fallen upon another sign which read "Robe Maker By Special Appointment to T. R. H. The King and The Queen."
"Here"s the place, Mollie, where they make the King"s clothes," he said.
"Now for it."
Hand in hand the three travellers entered the tailor"s shop.
"How do you do, Mr. Snip," said the Unwiseman addressing the gentlemanly manager of the shop whose name was on the sign without and who approached him as affably as though he were not himself the greatest tailor in the British Isles--for he couldn"t have been the King"s tailor if he had not been head and shoulders above all the rest. "I had a very pleasant little chat with his h. r. h. about you yesterday. I could see by the fit of his red jacket that you were the best tailor in the world, and while he didn"t say very much on the subject the King gave me to understand that you"re pretty nearly all that you should be."
"Verry gracious of his Majesty I am sure," replied the tailor, washing his hands in invisible soap, and bowing most courteously.
"Now the chances are," continued the Unwiseman, "that as soon as the King receives a letter I wrote to him from Liverpool about how to stamp out this horrible habit his subjects have of littering up the street with aitches, clogging traffic and overworking the Roberts picking "em up, he"ll ask me to settle down over here and be a Duke. Naturally I don"t want to disappoint him because I consider the King to be a mighty nice man, but unless I can get a first-cla.s.s Duke"s costume----"
"We make a specialty of Ducal robes, your Grace," said the Tailor, manifesting a great deal of interest in his queer little customer.
"Hold on a minute," cried the Unwiseman. "Don"t you call me that yet--I shant be a grace until I"ve decided to accept. What does an A-1 Duke"s clothes cost?"
"You mean the full State----" began the Tailor.
"I come from New York State," said the Unwiseman. "Yes--I guess that"s it. New York"s the fullest State in the Union. How much for a New York State Duke?"
"The State Robes will cost--um--let me see--I should think about fifteen hundred pounds, your Lordship," calculated the Tailor. "Of course it all depends on the quality of the materials. Velvets are rawther expensive these days."
Whistlebinkie gave a long low squeak of astonishment. Mollie gasped and the Unwiseman turned very pale as he tremblingly repeated the figure.
"Fif-teen-hundred-pounds? Why," he added turning to Mollie, "I"d have to live about seven thousand years to get the wear out of it at a dollar a year."
"Yes, your Lordship--or more. It all depends upon how much gold your Lordship requires--" observed the Tailor.
"Seems to me I"d need about four barrels of it," said the Unwiseman, "to pay a bill like that."
"We have made robes costing as high as 10,000 pounds," continued the Tailor. "But they of course were of unusual magnificence--and for special jubilee celebrations you know."
"You haven"t any ready made Duke"s clothes on hand for less?" inquired the Unwiseman. "You know I"m not so awfully particular about the fit.
My figure"s a pretty good one, but after all I don"t want to thrust it on people."
"We do not deal in ready made garments," said the Tailor coldly.
"Well I guess I"ll have to give it up then," said the Unwiseman, "unless you know where I could hire a suit, or maybe buy one second-hand from some one of your customers who"s going to get a new one."
"We do not do that kind of trade, sir," replied the Tailor, haughtily.
"Well say, Mr. Snip--ain"t there anything else a chap can be made beside a Duke that ain"t quite so dressy?" persisted the old gentleman. "I don"t want to disappoint Mr. King you know."
"Oh as for that," observed the Tailor, "there are ordinary peerages, baronetcies and the like. His Majesty might make you a Knight," he added sarcastically.
"That sounds good," said the Unwiseman. "About what would a Knight gown cost me--made out of paper muslin or something that"s a wee bit cheaper than solid gold and velvet?"
This perfectly innocent and sincerely asked question was never answered, for Mr. Snip the Tailor made up his mind that the Unwiseman was guying him and acted accordingly.
"Jorrocks!" he cried haughtily to the office boy, a fresh looking lad who had broken out all over in bra.s.s b.u.t.tons. "Jorrocks, show this "ere party the door."
Whereupon Mr. Snip retired and Jorrocks with a wink at Whistlebinkie showed the travellers out.
"Well did you ever!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed the Unwiseman. "You couldn"t have expected any haughtier haughtiness than that from the King himself."
"He was pretty proud," said Mollie, with a smile, for to tell the truth she had had all she could do all through the interview to keep from giggling.
"He was proud all right, but I didn"t notice anything very pretty about him," said the Unwiseman. "I"m going to write to the King about both those places, because I don"t believe he knows what kind of people they are with their bogus m.u.f.fins and hoity-toity manners."
They walked solemnly along the street in the direction of the hotel.
"I won"t even wait for the mail," said the Unwiseman. "I"ll walk over to the Palace now and tell him. That tailor might turn some real important American out of his shop in the same way and then there"d be a war over it."
"O I wouldn"t," said Mollie, who was always inclined toward peace-making. "Wait and write him a letter."
"Send-im-a-wireless-smessage," whistled Whistlebinkie.
"Good idea!" said the Unwiseman. "That"ll save postage and it"ll get to the King right away instead of having to be read first by one of his Secretaries."
So it happened that that night the Unwiseman climbed up to the roof of the hotel and sent the following wireless telegram to the King:
MY DEAR MR. KING:
That tailor of yours seems to think he"s a Grand Duke in disguise.
In the first place he wanted me to pay over seven thousand dollars for a Duke"s suit and when I asked him the price of a Knight-gown he told Jorrocks to show me the door, which I had already seen and hadn"t asked to see again. He"s a very imputinent tailor and if I were you I"d bounce him as we say in America. Furthermore they sell bogus m.u.f.fins up at that specially appointed bake-shop of yours. I think you ought to know these things. Nations have gone to war for less.
Yours trooly, THE UNWISEMAN.
P.S. I"ve been thinking about that Duke proposition and I don"t think I care to go into that business. Folks at home haven"t as much use for "em as they have for sour apples which you can make pie out of. So don"t do anything further in the matter.
"There," said the Unwiseman as he tossed this message off into the air.
"That saves me $8.50 anyhow, and I guess it"ll settle the business of those bogus m.u.f.fin people and that high and mighty tailor."