There were a number of small dodges, desks for holding books, flaps
which could be let up and down, slits in the table through which
papers could be dropped into drawers, a cord by which the bell
could be rung without rising from his place, a cord by which the
door could be bolted. "Not very satisfactory, that last," said the
Vicar, "but I am on the track of an improvement. The worst of it
is," said the good man, "that I have so little time. I make
extracts from the books I read for my sermons, I cut out telling
anecdotes from the papers. I like to raise questions every now
and then in the Guardian, and that lets me in for a lot of
correspondence. I even, I must confess, sometimes address questions
to important people about their public utterances, and I have an
interesting volume of replies, mostly from secretaries. Then I am
always at work on my Somersetshire genealogies, and that means a
mass of letters. The veriest trifles, of course, they will seem to
a man like yourself; but I fail in mental grasp--I keep hammering
away at details; that is my line; and after all it keeps one alert
and alive. You know my favourite thesis--it is touch with human
nature that I value, and I am brought into contact with many minds.
I don't exaggerate the importance of my work, but I enjoy it; and
after all, that is the point! I daresay it would be more dignified
if I pretended to be a disappointed man," said the Vicar, with a
smile which won Howard's heart, "but I am not--I am a very happy
man, as busy as the fabled bee! I shouldn't relish a change. There
was some question, I may tell you, at one time, of my becoming
Archdeacon, but it was a relief to me when it was settled and when
Bedington was appointed. I woke up in the morning, I remember, the
day after his appointment was announced, and I said to myself--
'Why, it's a relief after all!' I don't mean that I shouldn't have
enjoyed it, but it would have meant giving up some part of my work.