It was obvious that he was greatly interested.

It was obvious, also, that he was correspondingly surprised.
"My dear young man," he exclaimed, "my dear Mr .-- Mr.Burton--why, this is wonderful! Where did you get these sheets, do you say?
Are you honestly telling me that they were written within the last thousand years ?" "Without a doubt," Burton replied.

"They were written in London, a few months ago." Mr.Cowper was already busy surrounding himself with strange-looking volumes.

His face displayed the utmost enthusiasm in his task.
"It is most amazing, this," he declared, drawing a chair up to the table.

"These sheets are written in a language which has been dead as a medium of actual intercourse for over two thousand years.