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“What, if any, of his books would you specially recommend?” asked the Minister again.

The Idiot had by this time risen from the table, and was leaving the room with the genial gentleman who occasionally imbibed.

The School-master’s reply was not audible.

“I say,” said the genial gentleman to the Idiot, as they passed out into the hall, “they didn’t get much the best of you in that matter. But, tell me, who was Clink, anyhow?”

“Never heard of him before,” returned the Idiot.

“And Burrows?”

“Same as Clink.”

“Know anything about Elsmere ?” chuckled the genial gentleman.

“Nothing–except that it and ‘Pigs in Clover’ came out at the same time, and I stuck to the Pigs.”

And the genial gentleman who occasionally imbibed was so pleased at the plight of the School-master and of the Bibliomaniac that he invited the Idiot up to his room, where the private stock was kept for just such occasions, and they put in a very pleasant morning together.

IV

The guests were assembled as usual. The oatmeal course had been eaten in silence. In the Idiot’s eye there was a cold glitter of expectancy–a glitter that boded ill for the man who should challenge him to controversial combat–and there seemed also to be, judging from sundry winks passed over the table and kicks passed under it, an understanding to which he and the genial gentleman who occasionally imbibed were parties.

As the School-master sampled his coffee the genial gentleman who occasionally imbibed broke the silence.

“I missed you at the concert last night, Mr. Idiot,” said he.

“Yes,” said the Idiot, with a caressing movement of the hand over his upper lip; “I was very sorry, but I couldn’t get around last night. I had an engagement with a number of friends at the athletic club. I meant to have dropped you a line in the afternoon telling you about it, but I forgot it until it was too late. Was the concert a success?”

“Very successful indeed. The best one, in fact, we have had this season, which makes me regret all the more deeply your absence,” returned the genial gentleman, with a suggestion of a smile playing about his lips. “Indeed,” he added, “it was the finest one I’ve ever seen.”

“The finest one you’ve what?” queried the School-master, startled at the verb.

“The finest one I’ve ever seen,” replied the genial gentleman. “There were only ten performers, and really, in all my experience as an attendant at concerts, I never saw such a magnificent rendering of Beethoven as we had last night. I wish you could have been there. It was a sight for the gods.”

“I don’t believe,” said the Idiot, with a slight cough that may have been intended to conceal a laugh–and that may also have been the result of too many cigarettes–“I don’t believe it could have been any more interesting than a game of pool I heard at the club.”

“It appears to me,” said the Bibliomaniac to the School-master, “that the popping sounds we heard late last night in the Idiot’s room may have some connection with the present mode of speech these two gentlemen affect.”

“Let’s hear them out,” returned the School-master, “and then we’ll take them into camp, as the Idiot would say.”

“I don’t know about that,” replied the genial gentleman. “I’ve seen a great many concerts, and I’ve heard a great many good games of pool, but the concert last night was simply a ravishing spectacle. We had a Cuban pianist there who played the orchestration of the first act of Parsifal with surprising agility. As far as I could see, he didn’t miss a note, though it was a little annoying to observe how he used the pedals.”

“Too forcibly, or how?” queried the Idiot.

“Not forcibly enough,” returned the Imbiber. “He tried to work them both with one foot. It was the only thing to mar an otherwise marvellous performance. The idea of a man trying to display Wagner with two hands and one foot is irritating to a musician with a trained eye.”