"Hold it up in your right hand, and wish aloud," said the Sergeant-Major, "But I warn you of the consequences."
"Sounds like the 'Arabian Nights,'” said Mrs. White, as she rose and began to set the supper. "Don't you think you might wish for four pairs of hands for me."
Her husband drew the talisman from his pocket, and all three burst into laughter as the Sergeant-Major, with a look of alarm on his face, caught him by the arm.
"If you must wish," he said gruffly, "Wish for something sensible."
…
"If the tale about the monkey's paw is not more truthful than those he has been telling us," said Herbert, as the door closed behind their guest, just in time to catch the last train, "we shan't make much out of it."
"Did you give him anything for it, father?" inquired Mrs. White, regarding her husband closely.
"A trifle," said he, colouring slightly. "He didn't want it, but I made him take it. And he pressed me again to throw it away."
"Likely," said Herbert, with pretended horror. "Why, we're going to be rich, and famous and happy. Wish to be an emperor, father, to begin with; then you can't be henpecked."
He darted round the table, pursued by the maligned Mrs. White armed with an antimacassar.
Mr. White took the paw from his pocket and eyed it dubiously. "I don't know what to wish for, and that's a fact," he said, slowly. "It seems to me I've got all I want."
The answer is when his wife asked for him to wish her four pairs of hands in this excerpt, they didn't believe that the story they were told was true, so she was mainly making fun of the major's warning.
