'I don't credit Rackett with enough good sense for such a
proposal,' he said deliberately. 'And I'm not very sure that I
should accept it if it were made. That fellow Fadge has all but
ruined the paper. It will amuse me to see how long it takes him
to make Culpepper's new magazine a distinct failure.'

A silence of five minutes ensued; then Yule said of a sudden.

'Where is Hinks's book?'

Marian reached it from a side table; under this roof, literature
was regarded almost as a necessary part of table garnishing.

'I thought it would be bigger than this,' Yule muttered, as he
opened the volume in a way peculiar to bookish men.

A page was turned down, as if to draw attention to some passage.
Yule put on his eyeglasses, and soon made a discovery which had
the effect of completing the transformation of his visage. His
eyes glinted, his chin worked in pleasurable emotion. In a moment
he handed the book to Marian, indicating the small type of a
foot-note; it embodied an effusive eulogy--introduced a propos of
some literary discussion--of 'Mr Alfred Yule's critical acumen,
scholarly research, lucid style,' and sundry other distinguished
merits.

'That is kind of him,' said Marian.

'Good old Hinks! I suppose I must try to get him half-a-dozen
readers.'