solicitor, sir! You've made him a man of low
character; you show him up all through the book as perpetually mixing
in petty squabbles, sir; on one occasion you actually allow him to get
drunk Now what do you mean by it?'

'Good heavens,' said Mark, with a laugh, 'you don't seriously mean to
tell me you consider all this personal?'

'I do very seriously mean to tell you so, young gentleman,' said Mr.
Humpage, showing his teeth with a kind of snarl.

'There are people who will see personalities in a proposition of
Euclid,' said Mark, now completely himself again, and rather amused by
the scene; 'I should think you must be one of them, Mr. Humpage. Will
it comfort you if I let you know that I--that this book was written
months before I first had the pleasure of seeing you.'

'No, sir, not at all. That only shows me more clearly what I knew
already. That there has been another hand at work here. I see that
uncle of yours behind your back here.'

'Do you though?' said Mark. 'He's not considered literary as a general
rule.'

'Oh, he's quite literary enough to be libellous. Just cast your eye
over this copy. Your uncle sent this to me as a present, the first
work of his nephew. I thought at first he was trying to be friendly
again, till I opened the book! Just look at it, sir!' And the old man
fumbled through the leaves with his trembling hands. 'Here's a passage
where your solicitor is guilty of a bit of sharp practice--underlined
by your precious uncle! And here he sets two parties by the
ears--underlined by your uncle, in red ink, sir; and it's like that
all through the book. _Now_ what do you say?'

'What _can_ I say?' said Mark, with a shrug. 'You must really go and
fight it out with my uncle; if he is foolish enough to insult you,
that's not exactly a reason for coming here to roar at _me_.'

'You're as bad as he is, every bit. I had him up at sessions over that
gander, and he hasn't forgotten it. You had a hand in that affair,
too, I remember. Your victim, sir, was never the same bird
again--you'll be pleased to hear that--never the same bird again!'

'Very much to its credit, I'm sure,' said Mark. 'But oblige me by not
calling it _my_ victim. I don't suppose you'll believe me, but the one
offence is as imaginary as the other.'

'I _don't_ believe you, sir. I consider that to recommend yourself to
your highly respectable uncle, you have deliberately set yourself to
blacken my character, which may bear compar