cles,
and a man of good position to boot. He possessed a valuable library, and
was a frequent visitor at shops where he could add to his collections.
One dealer noticed that, whenever Monsieur Y. called upon him, one or
two valuable books mysteriously disappeared, and he was not long before
he arrived at the conclusion that his Belgian customer appropriated his
wares without attending to the customary, but disagreeable, process of
exchanging the coin of the realm for his bargains. Our friend the
dealer, an honest but remarkably plain-spoken and fearless individual,
made careful notes of all his losses and their prices.

One day he stopped Monsieur Y. just as he was leaving the shop, and
remarked that he might as well pay for the little volumes he had stowed
away in the pockets of the capacious overcoat he almost invariably wore.
Great was the assumed indignation of the Belgian bibliophile, who
asserted that he had no books on him but those he had already accounted
for. 'Come, come,' said the dealer, 'that won't do; I left you alone in
the room upstairs, but I watched you through the door, and saw you
pocket the books, of which the price is so much. Unless you pay for them
I shall send for a policeman; and whilst I am on the topic you may as
well settle for those other books you have taken from my shelves at
various times.' Here he produced his list, with the prices all affixed,
and a certain small sum added by way of interest. Hereupon Monsieur Y.
stormed and raved, swore it was an attempt to extort money from him, and
threatened legal proceedings. 'If,' said the dealer, 'you can empty your
pockets now without producing any book of mine, except those you have
paid for, I will withdraw my claim and apologize, otherwise I shall at
once send my man' (whom he then called) 'for a policeman.' Whereupon
Monsieur Y. paid the full claim, walked out of the shop, and never
entered it again. But the catalogues were regularly sent to him, and as
the dealer constantly had books that he required, he ordered what he
wanted by post, so that in the long-run the bookseller really lost
little or nothing by his boldness. The same bookseller complained that
people often ordered his books but neglected to pay for them, whilst
intending purchasers who meant to pay ready money, and called at the
shop for the books, had to be sent away disconsolate, sometimes after
having come long distances to secure the long-wished-for volume. 'But
first come,