"No, she don't, but it's all the same if she did. Whatever I say about the Post-Office I can give chapter and verse for. The way of it was this. The letter-carrier was a friend o' mine. He was goin' his rounds at Kelvedon, in Essex, when a tame raven seized a money letter he had in his hand and flew away with it. After circlin' round the town he alighted, and, before he could be prevented, tore the letter to pieces. On puttin' the bits together the contents o' the letter was found to be a cheque for thirty pounds, and of course, when the particulars o' the strange case were made known the cheque was renewed!--There now," concluded Solomon, "if you don't believe that story, you've only got to turn up the Postmaster-General's Report for 1862, and you'll find it there on page 24." "How curious!" said Miss Lillycrop. "There's another thing I want to know," she added, looking with deep interest into the countenance of her host, while that stalwart man continued to stow incredible quantities of sausages and crumpets into his capacious mouth. "Is it really true that people post letters without addresses?" "True, ma'am? why, of course it's true. Thousands of people do. The average number of letters posted without addresses is about eighty a day." "How strange! I wonder what causes this?" Miss Lillycrop gazed contemplatively into her teacup, and Solomon became suddenly aware that Grannie's plate was empty. Having replenished it, he ordered Dollops to bring more crumpets, and then turned to his guest. "I'll tell you what it is, ma'am, that causes this--it's forgetfulness, or rather, what we call absence of mind. It's my solemn belief, ma'am, that if our heads warn't screwed on pretty tight you'd see some hundreds of people walkin' about London of a mornin' with nothin' whatever on their shoulders. Why, there was one man actually posted a cheque for 9 pounds, 15 shillings loose, in a pillar letter-box in Liverpool, without even an envelope on it. The owner was easily traced through the bank, but was unable to explain how the cheque got out of his possession or into the pillar.--Just listen to this, ma'am," he added, rising and taking down a pamphlet from a bookshelf, "this is last year's Report. Hear what it says:-- "`Nearly 28,500 letters were posted this year without addresses. 757 of these letters were found to contain, in the aggregate, about 214 pounds in cash and bank-notes, and about 9088 pounds in bills of exchange, cheques, etcetera.'--Of course," said the letter-carrier, refreshing himself with a mouthful of tea, "the money and bills were returned to the senders, but it warn't possible to do the same with 52,856 postage-stamps which were found knocking about loose in the bottom of the mail-bags." "How many?" cried Miss Lillycrop, in amazement.