Page:Wind in the Willows (1913).djvu/374

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tell about; and on the fly-leaf he would set out a sort of a programme of entertainment for the evening—something like this, as he sketched it out in his head:—

Speech By Toad.
(There will be other speeches by Toad during
the evening.)
Address By Toad
Synopsis—Our Prison System—the Waterways of Old England—Horse-dealing, and how to deal—Property, its rights and its duties—Back to the Land—A Typical English Squire.
Song By Toad.
(Composed by himself.)
Other Compositions By Toad
will be sung in the course of the
evening by the . . . Composer.

The idea pleased him mightily, and he worked very hard and got all the letters finished by noon, at which hour it was reported to him that there was a small and rather bedraggled weasel at the door, inquiring timidly whether he could be of any service to the gentlemen. Toad swaggered out and found it was one of the prisoners of the previous evening, very respect-