It was at a five o’clock tea． A young man came to the hostess to apologize for his lateness．

“So good of you to come， Mr．Jones，and where is your brother？”

“You see we're very busy in the office and only one of us could come，so we tossed¹ up for it．”

“How nice！And so original， too！ And you won？”

“No，” said the young man absently，“I lost．”

五点钟，下午茶的时间，一个年轻人因为迟到向女主人致歉。

“您能来可真好，琼斯先生，您的兄弟在哪儿呢？”

“您知道我们在办公室里有非常忙，我们俩只能来一个，所以就掷币来决定由谁来。”

“太有意思了！还那么有独创性！那您赢了？”

“不，”年轻人心不在焉地说，“我输了。”