undying guardian. If he really is going on living--as the doctors, some
of them, think. As a matter of fact, I have gone to one or two public men
about it. But, so far, nothing has been done."

"It wouldn't be a bad idea to hand him over to some public body--the
British Museum Trustees, or the Royal College of Physicians. Sounds a bit
odd, of course, but the whole situation is odd."

"The difficulty is to induce them to take him."

"Red tape, I suppose?"

"Partly."

Pause. "It's a curious business, certainly," said Isbister. "And compound
interest has a way of mounting up."

"It has," said Warming. "And now the gold supplies are running short
there is a tendency towards ... appreciation."

"I've felt that," said Isbister with a grimace. "But it makes it better
for _him_."

"_If_ he wakes."

"If he wakes," echoed Isbister. "Do you notice the pinched-in look of his
nose, and the way in which his eyelids sink?"

Warming looked and thought for a space. "I doubt if he will wake," he
said at last.