logna (1323).

He had almost concluded when Goslin, the grey-bearded Frenchman, having
breakfasted alone in the dining-room, entered. "Ah, _mon cher_ Sir
Henry!" he exclaimed, "at work so early! The study of seals must be very
fascinating to you, though I confess that, for myself, I could never see
in them very much to interest one."

"No. To the ordinary person, my dear Goslin, it appears no doubt, a most
dryasdust study, but to a man afflicted like myself it is the only study
that he can pursue, for with his finger tips he can learn the devices
and decipher the inscriptions," the blind Baronet declared. "Take, for
instance, only this little collection of a dozen or so impressions which
they have so kindly sent to me from Norwich. Each one of them tells me
something. Its device, its general character, its heraldry, its
inscription, are all highly instructive. For the collector there are
opportunities for the study of the historical allusions, the
emblematology and imagery, the hagiology, the biographical and
topographical episodes, and the other peculiarities and idiosyncrasies
in all the seals he possesses."

Goslin, like most other people, had been many times bored by the old
man's technical discourses upon his hobby. But he never showed it. He,
just the same as other people, made pretence of being interested. "Yes,"
he remarked, "they must be most instructive to the student. I recollect
seeing a great quantity in the Bargello at Florence."

"Ah, a very fine collection--part of the Medici collection, and contains
some of the finest Italian and Spanish specimens," remarked the blind
connoisseur. "Birch of the British Museum is quite right in declaring
that the seal, portable and abounding in detail, not difficult of
acquisition nor hard to read if we set about deciphering the story it
has to tell, takes us back as we look upon it to the very time of its
making, and sets us, as it were, face to face with the actual owners of
the relic."

The Frenchman sighed. He saw he was in for a long dissertation; and,
moving uneasily towards the window, changed the topic of conversation by
saying, "I had a long letter from Paris this morning. Krail is back
again, it appears."

"Ah, that man!" cried the other impatiently. "When will his
extraordinary energies be suppressed? They are watching him carefully, I
suppose."

"Of course," replied the Frenchman. "He left Paris about a month ago,
but unfortunately the men watching h