Suddenly he discovered something.

One of his upper front teeth was loose.

This was lucky; he was about to begin to groan, as a "starter," as he called it, when it occurred to him that if he came into court with that argument, his aunt would pull it out, and that would hurt.

So he thought he would hold the tooth in reserve for the present, and seek further.

Nothing offered for some little time, and then he remembered hearing the doctor tell about a certain thing that laid up a patient for two or three weeks and threatened to make him lose a finger.