It appears that Pyramid's friend has got restless, discovered Marmaduke, and proceeded to try to tell him how near he comes to bein' a nervous wreck. "Ever get so you couldn't eat, couldn't sleep, couldn't think of but one thing over and over?" he was just sayin'. "To every coat of arms, the raveled sleeve of care," observes Marmaduke sort of casual. "Hey?" says Gridley, facin' round on him sharp. "As the poet puts it," Marmaduke rattles on,-- "You cannot gild the lily, Nor can you wet the sea; Pray tell me of my Bonnie, But bring her not to me!" "Say, what the howling hyenas are you spouting about?" snorts Gridley, growin' purple back of the ears. "Who in thunder are you?" "Don't!" says I, holdin' up a warnin' hand. But I'm too late. Marmaduke has bobbed up smilin'. "A chip on the current," says he. "I'm Marmaduke, you know. No offense meant. And you were saying----" "Huh!" grunts Gridley, calmin' down. "Can't wet the sea, eh? Not so bad, young man. You can't keep it still, either. It's the only thing that puts me to sleep when I get this way." "Break, break, break--I know," says Marmaduke. "That's it," says Gridley, "hearing the surf roar. I'd open up my seashore cottage just for the sake of a good night's rest, if it wasn't for the blasted seagulls. You've heard 'em in winter, haven't you, how they squeak around?" "It's their wing hinges," says Marmaduke, solemn and serious. "Eh?" says Gridley, gawpin' at him. "Squeaky wing hinges," says Marmaduke. "You should oil them." And, say, for a minute there, after Gridley had got the drift of that tomfool remark, I didn't know whether he was goin' to throw Marmaduke through the window, or have another fit. All of a sudden, though, he begins poundin' his knee. "By George! but that's rich, young man!" says he. "Squeaky gulls' wing hinges! Haw-haw! Oil 'em! Haw-haw! How did you ever happen to think of it, eh?" "One sweetly foolish thought," says Marmaduke. "I'm blessed with little else." "Well, it's a blessing, all right," says Gridley. "I have 'em sometimes; but not so good as that. Say, I'll have to tell that to Gordon when he comes out. No, he wouldn't see anything in it. But see here, Mr. Marmaduke, what have you got on for the evening, eh?" "My tablets are cleaner than my cuffs," says he. "Good work!" says Gridley. "What about coming out and having dinner with me?" "With you or any man," says Marmaduke. "To dine's the thing." With that, off they goes, leavin' Pyramid in the gym. doorway strugglin' with his collar. Course, I does my best to explain what's happened. "But who was the fellow?" says Mr. Gordon. "Just Marmaduke," says I, "and if you don't want to get your thinker tied in a double bowknot you'll let it go at that. He's harmless. First off I thought his gears didn't mesh; but accordin' to Pinckney he's some kind of a philosopher."