"Of course," interrupted Aleko, "I know that. If you do not you are stupid. Yesterday, the drawer of a boy's box would not open; you know the drawer, where all the shoe-polishes and rags are kept; and this boy--Dino--he pulled, and he pulled, and he could not get it open, and he was very angry, because a man got tired of waiting for him to clean his boots and went to another boy's stand. Then I looked at Dino's box, and I pulled a little, and it was one side only of the drawer which stuck, so I turned it to the light, and I found that a little nail had fallen between the side of the box and the drawer, and jammed it, and when I pulled it out with a bit of wire it opened as before." "And Dino was glad?" "He was glad, but he did not look why the drawer had stuck, and when another nail falls in he will be stupid again; he will not know how to open it. His head is stuffed with straw!" Then Aleko got up from the step, and gathered his remaining newspapers under his arm. "The good hour be with you, Kyr Themistocli!" "You are going?" "Yes, I want to go and see if that Anneza has found the dog yet." "What? She has lost him again?" "Since noon to-day, and she was trembling with fear of what her master would say." "You will remember, Aleko, to bring the coffee to-morrow afternoon." "I will remember. Be easy! I have the money you gave me safe here." Then as he turned to go, he said, "You have sufficient for the morning?" "No," answered the old man, "it is all finished; but for one day it does not matter if one eats one's bread dry." "For you it matters," pronounced Aleko. "I shall bring the coffee in the morning, ready ground." "Do not trouble, my boy; in the mornings you have no time." "I shall have time, and I shall bring it when I come with the newspapers for the Spinotti house," and without waiting for further objections he ran down the street and up the wider one, till he came to the railings of the Spinotti garden. Anneza, leaning out of her kitchen window, was explaining something vehemently to the next-door cook. "Have you found the dog?" asked Aleko. "If only I could find him, I would give twenty drachmæ out of my wages, that I would! The master was like mad when he heard I had lost him; he says the dog must have been stolen, and he has gone now to put it in the newspapers." "Did he give it to you badly?" asked the next-door cook curiously. Anneza became tearful. "He scolded me," she said, "till I have been trembling ever since." "He did well," pronounced Aleko as he turned away, "if your head were not fixed on, you would lose it every day." "Wait a moment!" shouted Anneza. "Wait till I get the jam stick to you!" but Aleko was already out of sight.