im in the past tense! He was a man, sir, as
Shakespeare puts it:

"Take him for all in all,
We shall not look upon his like again."

"A most happy description, Mr. Basket," the Doctor agreed.
"Would you mind saying it over again, that I may commit it to
memory?"

Mr. Basket obligingly repeated it.

"Most happy! Shakespeare, you say? Thank you." The Doctor copied
it into his pocket-book among the prescriptions.

"One might add, perhaps," Mr. Basket submitted respectfully, "that a
mere physical description, however animated, cannot do justice to my
friend's moral grandeur, which, indeed, would require the brush of a
Michael Angelo."

The Chief Constable inquired what reward they proposed to offer.

"Ah, yes; to be sure!" Taken somewhat unexpectedly, Mr. Basket and
the Doctor exchanged glances.

"On behalf of the relatives, now--" began Mr. Basket.

"So far as I know, Miss Martha was the one relative he had in the
world," answered the Doctor.

"So much the better, my friend, seeing that you have (as I
understand) her entire confidence."

"I was about to suggest that--circumstances having forced you into
prominence--to take the lead, so to speak, in this unhappy affair--"

"But why do we talk of price?" interposed Mr. Basket briskly,
"seeing that the loss, if loss it be, is nothing short of
irreparable? To my mind there is something--er--"

"Desecrating," suggested the Doctor.

"Quite so--desecrating--in this reduction of our poor friend to
pounds, shillings, and pence."

"Nevertheless it is usual to name a sum," the Chief Constable assured
them. "Shall we say fifty pounds?" Mr. Basket took off his
spectacles and wiped them with a trembling hand. Dr. Hansombody
stood considering, pulling thoughtfully at his lower lip.

"I think I can undertake," he suggested, "that the Town Council will
contribute a moiety of that sum. Something can be done by private
subscription."

Mr. Basket brightened visibly. "Put it at fifty pounds, then," he
commanded, with a wave of the hand. "Should Providence see fit to
restore him to us, our friend, as a reasonable man, will doubtless
discharge some part of the expenses."

Accordingly the bill was drafted, and the Chief Constable, after
running his blue pencil through some of its more monumental periods,
engaged to have it printed and distributed.

"Do you know," confessed Mr. Basket, as he and the Doctor walked
homewards, "I felt all