IX. 



'A CHAPTER OF ACCIDENTS ' 



The time has now arrived, I think, for me to tell 

 you how I came to deserve the honour of the 

 letters which adorn my name ; they mean a good 

 deal to me, more than you might at first suppose. 

 It is not that I wish to swagger about them, though 

 comparatively few rats are allowed to use them. I 

 hope that you know me well enough by this time 

 to put such an idea out of your head at once. The 

 possession of them is mainly a matter of luck, 

 though not entirely so, as you will see in time. 

 When I say that they mean a good deal to me, I 

 wish you to understand that they mean that I am 

 still in the land of the living, and if that is not ' a 

 good deal ' I should like to ask you what is. Plenty 

 of rats have earned them on their merits, but have 

 never lived to wear them, so to speak. 



You will have to imagine many adventures 

 in between ; I have not time to tell you about 

 everything that has happened to me, and a rat's 



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