named._

BERTRAM.

[_Bringing forward the chair on which he has been sitting and planting
it nearer to_ SIR RANDLE _and_ LADY FILSON--_to_ DUNNING.] I suppose
you may----

DUNNING.

[_Taking off his gloves and overcoat--to_ PHILIP.] D'ye mind if I slip
my coat off, Mr. Mackworth?

PHILIP.

[_Growling._] No.

DUNNING.

Don't want to get overheated, and catch the flue. I've got Mrs. D. in
bed with a bad cold, as it is.

BERTRAM.

[_To_ DUNNING.] Now then, Mr. Dunning! I'll trouble you to give us an
account of your operations in this business from the outset----

DUNNING.

[_Hanging his coat over the back of the chair._] Pleasure.

BERTRAM.

The business of Mr. Mackworth's new book, I mean t'say.

DUNNING.

[_Sitting and placing his hat on the floor._] Pleasure.

BERTRAM.

Middle of October, wasn't it, when I----?

DUNNING.

Later. [_Producing a dog's-eared little memorandum-book and turning its
leaves with a moistened thumb._] Here we are--the twenty-fourth. [_To
everybody, referring to his notes as he proceeds--glibly._] Mr. Filson
called on me and Mr. Sillitoe, ladies and gentlemen, on the
twenty-fourth of last month with reference to a book by Mr. P.
Mackworth--"The Big Drum"--published September the second, and drew our
attention to the advertisements of Mr. Mackworth's publisher--Mr.
Clifford Titterton, of Charles Street, Adelphi--relating to the same.
Mr. F. having made us acquainted with the special circumstances of the
case, and furnished us with his reasons for doubting Titterton's
flowery statements, [_wetting his thumb again and turning to the next
leaf of his note-book_] on the following day, the twenty-fifth, I
purchased a copy of the said book at Messrs. Blake and Hodgson's in the
Strand, Mr. Hodgson himself informing me in the course of conversation
that, as far as his firm was concerned, the book wasn't doing anything
out of the ordinary. [_Repeating the thumb process._] I then proceeded
to pump one of the gals--er--to interrogate one of the assistants--at a
circulating library Mrs. D. subscribes to, with a similar result.
[_Turning to the next leaf._] My next step----