"Asimov, Isaac - Magical Wishes" - читать интересную книгу автора (Asimov Isaac)

^ closed behind their guest, just in time to catch the last train,
\ "we shan't make much out of it."

^ "Did you give him anything for it, father?" inquired Mrs.
'J| White, regarding her husband closely.
f "A trifle," said he, colouring slightly. "He didn't want it.
|f but I made him take it. And he pressed me again to throw it
^ away."

"Likely," said Herbert, with pretended horror. "Why,
we're going to be rich, and famous, and happy. Wish to be

16

W. W. Jacobs

an emperor, father, to begin with; then you can't be ten-
peeked."

He darted round the table, pursued by the maligned Mrs.
White armed with an antimacassar.

Mr- White took the paw from his pocket and eyed it
dubiously. "I don't know what to wish for, and that's a
fact," he said slowly. "It seems to me I've got all I want."

"If you only cleared the house, you'd be quite happy,
wouldn't you!" said Herbert, with his hand on his shoulder.
"Well, wish for two hundred pounds, then; that'll just do it."

His father, smiling shamefacedly at his own credulity, held
up the talisman, as his son, with a solemn face, somewhat
marred by a wink at his mother, sat down at the piano and
struck a few impressive chords-

"I wish for two hundred pounds," said the old man
distinctly.

A fine crash from the piano greeted the words, interrupted
by a shuddering cry from the old man. His wife and son ran
toward him.

"It moved." be cried, with a glance of disgust at the
object as it lay on the floor. "As I wished, it twisted in my
hand like a snake."

"Well, I don't see the money," said his son, as he picked
it up and placed it on the table, "and I bet I never shall,"

"It must have been your fancy, father," said his wife,