16
JOSEPHUS RILEY
'Before the parties start
I'll take the Judge apart
To prove, by tasting, whether I have tampered with the tea;
And I beg to state again
Your suspicions give me pain,'
Said plain Josephus Riley, from the North Countree.
Then they all were satisfied
That the match was 'boneefied':
The bond was signed, and Riley went to 'preparate' the tea;
But his slow, ambiguous smile
Would have seemed to token guile
In any man but Riley, from the North Countree.
