(Editor. It all seems to have happened rather rapidly, does it not? Twenty-four hours ago he had been——
Author. You forget that this is a SHORT story.)
Handsome Hardrow! How absurd it sounded now! He had let his beard grow, his clothes were in rags, a scar over one eye testified——
(Editor. Yes, yes. Of course, I quite admit that a man might go to the bad in twenty-four hours, but would his beard grow as——
Author. Look here, you've heard of a man going grey with trouble in a single night, haven't you?
Editor. Certainly.
Author. Well, it's the same idea as that.
Editor. Ah, quite so, quite so.
Author. Where was I?
Editor. A scar over one eye was just testifying—— I suppose he had two eyes in the ordinary way?)