s himself obliged to admit this; and every one was extolling
the inventor of the automaton, when an elderly gentleman who, as a
general rule, spoke very little, and had been taking no part in the
conversation on the present occasion, rose from his chair (as he was in
the habit of doing when he did finally say a few words, always greatly
to the point) and began, in his usual polite manner, as follows--

"'"Will you be good enough to allow me, gentlemen--I beg you to pardon
me. You have reason to admire the curious work of art which has been
interesting us all for so long; but you are wrong in supposing the
commonplace person who exhibits it to be the inventor of it. The truth
is that he really has no hand at all in what are the truly remarkable
features of it. The originator of them is a gentleman highly skilled in
matters of the kind--one who lives amongst us, and has done so for many
years--whom we all know very well, and greatly respect and esteem."

"'Universal surprise was created by this, and the elderly gentleman was
besieged with questions, on which he continued;

"'"The gentleman to whom I allude is none other than Professor X----.
The Turk had been here a couple of days, and nobody had taken any
particular notice of him, though Professor X--- took care to go and see
him at once, because everything in the shape of an Automaton interests
him in the highest degree. When he had heard one or two of the Turk's
answers, he took the Exhibitor apart and whispered a word or two in his
ear. The man turned pale, and shut up his exhibition as soon as the two
or three people who were then in the room had gone away. The bills
disappeared from the walls, and nothing more was heard of the Talking
Turk for a fortnight. Then new bills came out, and the Turk was found
with the fine new head, and all the other arrangements as they are at
present--an unsolvable riddle. It is since that time that his answers
have been so clever and so interesting. But that all this is the work
of Professor X---- admits of no question. The Exhibitor, in the
interval, when the figure was not being exhibited, spent all his time
with him. Also it is well known that the Professor passed several days
in succession in the room where the figure is. Besides, gentlemen, you
are no doubt aware that the Professor himself possesses a number of
most extraordinary automatons, chiefly musical, which he has long vied
with Hofrath B---- in producing, keeping up with