"Great Scott!" whispered the Bibliomaniac, desperately, "I'm afraid
we've been barking up the wrong tree."

"You've read Clink, I suppose?" asked the Idiot, turning to the
School-master.

"Y--yes," returned the School-master, blushing deeply.

The Idiot looked surprised, and tried to conceal a smile by sipping his
coffee from a spoon.

"And Burrows?"

"No," returned the School-master, humbly. "I never read Burrows."

"Well, you ought to. It's a great book, and it's the one _Robert
Elsmere_ is taken from--same ideas all through, I'm told--that's why I
didn't read _Elsmere_. Waste of time, you know. But you noticed
yourself, I suppose, that Clink's ground is the same as that covered in
_Elsmere_?"

"No; I only dipped lightly into Clink," returned the School-master, with
some embarrassment.

"But you couldn't help noticing a similarity of ideas?" insisted the
Idiot, calmly.

The School-master looked beseechingly at the Bibliomaniac, who would
have been glad to fly to his co-conspirator's assistance had he known