The manufacturer was silent. The banker said: "I don't know. He grappled
pretty boldly with your insinuations. That frank declaration that Altruria
was all these pretty soap-bubble worlds solidified was rather fine."
"It was splendid!" cried Mrs. Makely. The lawyer and the minister came
toward us from where they had been sitting together. She called out to
them: "Why in the world didn't one of your gentlemen get up and propose a
vote of thanks?"
"The difficulty with me is," continued the banker, "that he has rendered
Altruria incredible. I have no doubt that he is an Altrurian, but I doubt
very much if he comes from anywhere in particular, and I find this quite a
blow, for we had got Altruria nicely located on the map, and were
beginning to get accounts of it in the newspapers."
"Yes, that is just exactly the way I feel about it," sighed Mrs. Makely.
"But still, don't you think there ought to have been a vote of thanks, Mr.
Bullion?"
"Why, certainly. The fellow was immensely amusing, and you must have got a
lot of money by him. It was an oversight not to make him a formal
acknowledgment of some kind. If we offered him money, he would have to
leave it all behind him here when he went home to Altruria.
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