A talker of this kind is too full of his subject to insist upon answering questions, so that he does not trouble you much.

It is his own dinner that is spoiled rather than yours.

Treat in the same way as the Chamberlain talker the man who sits down beside you and begins, "Remarkable man, Mr.Gladstone." There was a ventilator in my room, which sometimes said "Crik-crik!" reminding us that no one had spoken for an hour.

Occasionally, however, we had lapses of speech, when Gilray might tell over again--though not quite as I mean to tell it--the story of his first pipeful of the Arcadia, or Scrymgeour, the travelled man, would give us the list of famous places in Europe where he had smoked.

But, as a rule, none of us paid much attention to what the others said, and after the last pipe the room emptied--unless Marriot insisted on staying behind to bore me with his scruples--by first one and then another putting his pipe into his pocket and walking silently out of the room.
[Illustration].