ng more than three years. Now do
you understand the charge?'

Mr. Macpherson's head during this accusation was held slightly inclined
to one side. At first his face was clouded by the most clever
imitation of anxious concentration of mind I had ever seen, and this
was gradually cleared away by the dawn of awakening perception. When I
had finished, an ingratiating smile hovered about his lips.

'Really, you know,' he said, 'that is rather a capital scheme. The
absent-minded league, as one might call them. Most ingenious.
Summertrees, if he had any sense of humour, which he hasn't, would be
rather taken by the idea that his innocent fad for Christian Science
had led him to be suspected of obtaining money under false pretences.
But, really, there are no pretensions about the matter at all. As I
understand it, I simply call and receive the money through the
forgetfulness of the persons on my list, but where I think you would
have both Summertrees and myself, if there was anything in your
audacious theory, would be an indictment for conspiracy. Still, I
quite see how the mistake arises. You have jumped to the conclusion
that we sold nothing to Lord Semptam except that carved table three
years ago. I have pleasure in pointing out to you that his lordship is
a frequent customer of ours, and has had many things from us at one
time or another. Sometimes he is in our debt; sometimes we are in his.
We keep a sort of running contract with him by which he pays us a
pound a week. He and several other customers deal on the same plan,
and in return for an income that we can count upon, they get the first
offer of anything in which they are supposed to be interested. As I
have told you, we call these sheets in the office our visiting lists,
but to make the visiting lists complete you need what we term our
encyclopaedia. We call it that because it is in so many volumes; a
volume for each year, running back I don't know how long. You will
notice little figures here from time to time above the amount stated
on this visiting list. These figures refer to the page of the
encyclopaedia for the current year, and on that page is noted the new
sale, and the amount of it, as it might be set down, say, in a
ledger.'

'That is a very entertaining explanation, Mr. Macpherson. I suppose
this encyclopaedia, as you call it, is in the shop at Tottenham Court
Road?'

'Oh, no, sir. Each volume of the encyclopaedia is self-locking. These
books contain