tward and visible hostility. Twice I
had outbid Mr. Potts at a local auction for articles which he desired.
Moreover, after the fashion of every good collector he felt it to be
his duty to hate me as another collector. Lastly, several times I
had offered him smaller sums for antiques upon which he set a certain
monetary value. It is true that long ago I had given up this bargaining
for the reason that Mr. Potts would never take less than he asked.
Indeed he followed the example of the vendor of the Sibylline books in
ancient Rome. He did not destroy the goods indeed after the fashion
of that person and demand the price of all of them for the one that
remained, but invariably he put up his figure by 10 per cent. and
nothing would induce him to take off one farthing.

"What do _you_ want, sir?" he said grumpily. "Vests, hose, collars, or
socks?"

"Oh, socks, I think," I replied at hazard, thinking that they would
be easiest to carry, whereupon Mr. Potts produced some peculiarly
objectionable and shapeless woollen articles which he almost threw at
me, saying that they were all he had in stock. Now I detest woollen
socks and never wear them. Still, I made a purchase, thinking with
sympathy of my old gardener whose feet they would soon be scratching,
and while the parcel was being tied up, said in an insinuating voice,
"Anything fresh upstairs, Mr. Potts?"

"No, sir," he answered shortly, "at least, not much, and if there were
what's the use of showing them to you after the business about that
clock?"

"It was L15 you wanted for it, Mr. Potts?" I asked.

"No, sir, it was L17 and now it's 10 per cent. on to that; you can work
out the sum for yourself."

"Well, let's have another look at it, Mr. Potts," I replied humbly,
whereon with a grunt and a muttered injunction to Tom to mind the shop,
he led the way upstairs.

Now the house in which Mr. Potts dwelt had once been of considerable
pretensions and was very, very old, Elizabethan, I should think,
although it had been refronted with a horrible stucco to suit modern
tastes. The oak staircase was good though narrow, and led to numerous
small rooms upon two floors above, some of which rooms were panelled
and had oak beams, now whitewashed like the panelling--at least they had
once been whitewashed, probably in the last generation.

These rooms were literally crammed with every sort of old furniture,
most of it decrepit, though for many of the articles dealers would hav