had left a package of similar volumes in the hall. He took a seat before
it had been offered him, placed the book on the table, and began to
address Mellowkent in the manner of an "open letter."

"You are a literary man, the author of several well-known books--"

"I am engage on a book at the present moment--rather busily engaged,"
said Mellowkent, pointedly.

"Exactly," said the intruder; "time with you is a commodity of
considerable importance. Minutes, even, have their value."

"They have," agreed Mellowkent, looking at his watch.

"That," said Caiaphas, "is why this book that I am introducing to your
notice is not a book that you can afford to be without. _Right Here_ is
indispensable for the writing man; it is no ordinary encyclopaedia, or I
should not trouble to show it to you. It is an inexhaustible mine of
concise information--"

"On a shelf at my elbow," said the author, "I have a row of reference
books that supply me with all the information I am likely to require."

"Here," persisted the would-be salesman, "you have it all in one compact
volume. No matter what the subject may be which you wish to look up, or
the fact you desire to verify, _Right Here_ gives you all that you want
to know in the briefest and most enlightening form. Historical
reference, for instance; career of John Huss, let us say. Here we are:
'Huss, John, celebrated religious reformer. Born 1369, burned at
Constance 1415. The Emperor Sigismund universally blamed.'"