"Ever since we had our little correspondence I have been anxious to take your opinion on my collection.

Though how in the world you manage to find time to have an opinion at all upon the subject is most perplexing.

I never open the _Times_ but I see your name figuring in some important case." "And I, Mr.Hazlewood," Thresk replied with a smile, "never open my mail without receiving a pamphlet from you.

I am not the only active man in the world." Even at that moment Mr.Hazlewood flushed with pleasure at the flattery.
"Little reflections," he cried with a modest deprecation, "worked out more or less to completeness--may I say that ?--in the quiet of a rural life, sparks from the tiny flame of my midnight oil." He picked up one pamphlet from a stack by his writing-table.

"You might perhaps care to look at _The Prison Walls_." Thresk drew back.
"I have got mine, Mr.Hazlewood," he said firmly.