lk," he explained to me; "indeed, I have
recently had the study lengthened to give me more room." By this time
we were in the billiard-room, wherein stands a large English organ with
upwards of four hundred pipes. And in this room, prowling round and
round the billiard-table like a couple of wild beasts--for I also, like
my host, think best upon my legs--and occasionally cannoning up against
one another and recoiling with a laugh and a start, George Newnes told
me the history of his interesting and successful life.

[Illustration: THE CONCEPTION OF "TIT-BITS."]

"My father," he began, "was, at the time of my birth, the minister of
Glenorchy Chapel, Matlock Bath. He was a very able man, and the best
informed man you could meet. He kept me at school till I was about
sixteen. I finished up at the City of London School, and, curiously
enough, I am going to-night to reply for the House of Commons at a
banquet given by the John Carpenter Club in honour of the Home
Secretary, who was a City of London School boy. My father put me into
a house of business in the City, at which I remained for a number of
years, and then I went down to Lancashire to open up a branch of the
business there. I settled in Manchester and married, there. One night,
in 1880, when I was sitting at home reading the _Manchester Evening
News_--and, by the way, it has never occurred to me before," added Mr.
Newnes, as a sudden thought flashed into his mind, "the very people who
printed that paper were the same people who afterwards printed
_Tit-Bits_ for ten years--I came across a story, or some interesting
account, which very much pleased me. I read it to my wife and said,
'There, that's what I call a real "tit-bit." This paper, but for it, is
to-day decidedly dull, because there is absolutely no news to put in it.
Now, why cannot a paper be brought out which should contain nothing but
"tit-bits" similar to this?'"

"And that really," said I, much interested, as Mr. George Newnes paused
for a moment in his journey round the billiard-table, and gazed absently
at me while I lit a cigar and threw myself into an armchair, "and that
really is how _Tit-Bits_ came to be first thought of?"

[Illustration: THE STUDY.]

"Yes," he replied, as he started off once more, and I rose to follow in
his track, "that was the _first_ idea of my little green paper. But I
was a whole year before I was able to carry it out. I was very busy in
other matters, and had not much ti