t yourself right with the public."

"Yes, yes--'from The Retreat, East Hoe, the residence of E. Basket,
Esq., on the night of May 2nd, between the hours of 7 and 11 p.m., a
Gentleman--'"

Mr. Basket paused.

"We must describe him," said the Doctor.

"I am coming to that. 'A Gentleman, answering to the name of
Hymen--'"

"Why 'answering'?"

Mr. Basket ran his pen through the word. "The fact is," he
explained, "I've only written out a thing of this sort once before in
my life; and that was when Mrs. Basket missed a black-and-tan
terrier. H'm, let me see. . . . Between the hours of 7 and 11 p.m.,
Solomon Hymen, Esquire, and Justice of the Peace, Major of the Troy
Volunteer Artillery. The missing gentleman was of imposing
exterior--"

"Height five feet, three inches," said the Doctor.

"Eh? Are you sure?"

"As medical officer of the Troy Artillery, I keep account of every
man in the corps; height, chest measurement, waist measurement, any
peculiarity of structure, any mole, cicatrix, birth-mark and so on.
I began to take these notes at the Major's own instance, for purposes
of identification on the field of battle. Little did I dream, as I
passed the tape around my admired friend, that _his_ proportions
would ever be the subject of this melancholy curiosity!"

"It reminds me," said Mr. Basket, "of a group in my garden entitled
_Finding the body of Harold_. Five feet three, you say? I had
better scratch out 'imposing exterior'; or, stay!--we'll alter it to
'carriage.'"

"Chest, thirty-six inches; waist, forty-three inches; complexion--
does that come next?" Doctor Hansombody appealed to the Chief
Constable, who nodded.

"Complexion, features, colour of hair, of eyes . . . any order you
please."

"We must leave out all allusion to his hair, I think," said Mr.
Basket; "and, by the way, I suppose the--er--authorities will desire
to take possession of any other little odds-and-ends our friend left
behind him? Complexion, clear and sanguine; strongly marked
features. His eye, sir, was like Mars, to threaten and command; but
I forget the precise colour at this moment. We might, perhaps,
content ourselves with 'piercing.' If I allow myself to be betrayed
into a description of his moral qualities--"

"Unnecessary," put in the Chief Constable.

"And yet, sir, it was by his moral qualities that my friend ever
impressed himself most distinctly on all who met him. Alas! that I
should be speaking of h