l, could think of nothing else.

'I have a letter here,' he said; '_such_ a letter! Whom do you think it
is from? Why, from no less a person than Professor Flick, who is, as of
course _you_ know, the most famous authority on folk-lore in the whole
of the West of America.'

Sarrasin paused and looked at them with an air of triumph. He evidently
expected them to say something. So Ericson spoke.

'I am ashamed to say,' he confessed, 'that I have never heard the
honoured name of Professor Flick before.'

Mr. Sarrasin looked a trifle dashed. 'I was in hopes you might have
known,' he said, 'for his name and his books are of course well known to
me. But no doubt you have had little time for such study. Anyhow, we
shall soon know him personally, both you and I; you probably even sooner
than I.'

'Indeed!' said Ericson. 'How am I to come to know him? I am not very
strong on folk-lore.'

'Why?' answered Mr. Sarrasin. 'Because he is stopping in your hotel.
This letter which I have received from him this morning is dated from
Paulo's Hotel, the chosen home apparently of all illustrious persons.'

The Dictator smiled. 'I dare not claim equality with Professor Flick,
and I fear I might not recognise him if I met him in the corridors, or
on the stairs. I must inquire about him from Miss Paulo.'

'Do, do,' said Mr. Sarrasin. 'But he will come here. Of course he will
come here. He writes to me a most flattering letter, in which he does me
the honour to say that he has read with pleasure my poor tractates on
"The Survival of Solar Myths in Kitchen Customs," and on "The Probable
Patagonian Origin of 'A Frog he would a-wooing go.'" He is pleased to
express a great desire to make my acquaintance. I wonder if he has heard
of my brother? Oisin must have been in Sacramento and Omaha and all the
other places.'

'I should think he was sure to have met your brother,' said the
Dictator, feeling he was expected to say something.

'If not, I must introduce my brother,' Mr. Sarrasin said joyously.
'Fancy anyone being introduced to anybody through me!'

Miss Ericson had listened quietly, with an air of smiling interest,
while Mr. Sarrasin was giving forth his joyful news. Now she leaned
forward and spoke.

'What do you propose to do in honour of this international episode?'
she asked. There was a slender vein of humour in Miss Ericson's
character, and she occasionally exercised it gently at the expense of
her friend's hobby. Mr. Sarrasi