_MYSELF._ I hope I am no longer capable of feeling anything so _démodé_ as
surprise.

_MR. SADROCK._ And that I prefer _Robert Elsmere_ to the _Iliad_?

_MYSELF._ May I print those declarations in my book?

_MR. SADROCK._ Some day, yes, but not yet, not yet.

* * * * *

MR. SADROCK AND NONCONFORMITY. _To the Editor of_ "_The Monday Times_."

SIR,--I find it necessary, in the interests of truth and of respect for the
memory of my uncle, Mr. Sadrock, to contest the accuracy of the Margotist's
report of conversations with him in 1902. To begin with, my uncle died in
1898, four years before the alleged interview. She could therefore not have
talked with him in 1902; and the _locale_ of this meeting, the Prime
Minister's room, becomes peculiarly fantastic. Secondly, no member of his
family--and they saw him constantly--ever heard him utter anything
resembling the sentiments which the Margotist attributes to him. Mr.
Sadrock was both an undeviating Churchman and a devotee of HOMER to the end
of his life.

I am, etc., THEOPHILUS SADROCK.

THE MARGOTIST'S REPLY.

SIR,--I have read Mr. Theophilus Sadrock's letter and am surprised by its
tone. If Mr. Sadrock did not make use of the words that I attribute to him