By the way, how d'ye square this business of yours wi' the booksellers?
When I was in Matheson's there would have been trouble if we had dealt direct wi' the public like you.' The confounded fellow started to talk about the details of the book trade, of which I knew nothing.

He wanted to know on what terms we sold 'juveniles', and what discount we gave the big wholesalers, and what class of book we put out 'on sale'.

I didn't understand a word of his jargon, and I must have given myself away badly, for he asked me questions about firms of which I had never heard, and I had to make some kind of answer.

I told myself that the donkey was harmless, and that his opinion of me mattered nothing, but as soon as I decently could I pretended to be absorbed in the _Pilgrim's Progress_, a gaudy copy of which was among the samples.

It opened at the episode of Christian and Hopeful in the Enchanted Ground, and in that stuffy carriage I presently followed the example of Heedless and Too-Bold and fell sound asleep.