'Are you interested at all in first editions, Mr. Webster?'
'It is the one thing I am interested in,' I replied; 'but
unfortunately they often run into a lot of money.'
'That is true,' said Macpherson sympathetically, 'and I have here
three books, one of which is an exemplification of what you say. This
one costs a hundred pounds. The last copy that was sold by auction in
London brought a hundred and twenty-three pounds. This next one is
forty pounds, and the third ten pounds. At these prices I am certain
you could not duplicate three such treasures in any book shop in
Britain.'
I examined them critically, and saw at once that what he said was
true. He was still standing on the opposite side of the table.
'Please take a chair, Mr. Macpherson. Do you mean to say you go round
London with a hundred and fifty pounds worth of goods under your arm
in this careless way?'
The young man laughed.
'I run very little risk, Mr. Webster. I don't suppose anyone I meet
imagines for a moment there is more under my arm than perhaps a trio
of volumes I have picked up in the fourpenny box to take home with
me.'
I lingered over the volume for which he asked a hundred pounds, then
said, looking across at him:--
'How came you to be possessed of this book, for instance?'
He turned upon me a fine, open countenance, and answered without
hesitation in the frankest possible manner,--
'I am not in actual possession of it, Mr.
Pages:
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230