“But there’s such a frightful lot.”

Antony’s pipe was now going satisfactorily, and he got up and walked leisurely to the end of the wall opposite the door.

“Well, let’s have a look,” he said, “and see if they are so very frightful.  Hallo, here’s your ‘Badminton.’  You often read that, you say?”

“If I read anything.”

“Yes.”  He looked down and up the shelf.  “Sport and Travel chiefly.  I like books of travel, don’t you?”

“They’re pretty dull as a rule.”

“Well, anyhow, some people like them very much,” said Antony, reproachfully.  He moved on to the next row of shelves.  “The Drama.  The Restoration dramatists.  You can have most of them.  Still, as you well remark, many people seem to love them.  Shaw, Wilde, Robertson—­I like reading plays, Bill.  There are not many people who do, but those who do are usually very keen.  Let us pass on.”

“I say, we haven’t too much time,” said Bill restlessly.

“We haven’t.  That’s why we aren’t wasting any.  Poetry.  Who reads poetry nowadays?  Bill, when did you last read ’Paradise Lost’?”

“Never.”

“I thought not.  And when did Miss Calladine last read ’The Excursion’ aloud to you?”

“As a matter of fact, Betty—­Miss Calladine—­happens to be jolly keen on what’s the beggar’s name?”

“Never mind his name.  You have said quite enough.  We pass on.”

He moved on to the next shelf.

“Biography.  Oh, lots of it.  I love biographies.  Are you a member of the Johnson Club?  I bet Mark is.  ’Memories of Many Courts’ I’m sure Mrs. Calladine reads that.  Anyway, biographies are just as interesting as most novels, so why linger?  We pass on.”  He went to the next shelf, and then gave a sudden whistle.  “Hallo, hallo!”

“What’s the matter?” said Bill rather peevishly.

“Stand back there.  Keep the crowd back, Bill.  We are getting amongst it.  Sermons, as I live.  Sermons.  Was Mark’s father a clergyman, or does Mark take to them naturally?”

“His father was a parson, I believe.  Oh, yes, I know he was.”

“Ah, then these are Father’s books.  ’Half-Hours with the Infinite’ I must order that from the library when I get back.  ‘The Lost Sheep,’ ‘Jones on the Trinity,’ ’The Epistles of St. Paul Explained.’  Oh, Bill, we’re amongst it.  ’The Narrow Way, being Sermons by the Rev. Theodore Ussher’ hal-Lo!”

“What is the matter?”

“William, I am inspired.  Stand by.”  He took down the Reverend Theodore Ussher’s classic work, looked at it with a happy smile for a moment, and then gave it to Bill.

“Here, hold Ussher for a bit.”

Bill took the book obediently.

“No, give it me back.  Just go out into the hall, and see if you can hear Cayley anywhere.  Say ‘Hallo’ loudly, if you do.”

Bill went out quickly, listened, and came back.