"I haven't any words by me just now, long enough to answer you with, but I quite agree with you in spirit." "That's all very well," said Frank, "for a modern, twentieth-century explanation, but the real root of the matter goes far back into the obscure ages of antiquity.

The whole habit is a relic of barbarism.
Probably, in the early ages, only the great had cups to drink from.

These few, to protect themselves from their envious and covetous brethren, stuck out their little fingers to ward off possible assaults upon their porcelain property.

This ingrained impulse the ages have been unable to eradicate.

Hence we find the Little Finger Crooks upon the earth to-day." "What an ingenious boy you are," said Patty, looking at her cousin with mock admiration.