‘The bishop was not really dead at all. It takes some time to explain. The corpus delicti—you see I know my subject—was somebody else. And the bishop was alive, and secretly watching the judge, disguised as Mr. Sherlock Holmes. Oh, I know it is too much in Dickens’s manner. But my public has not read Dickens.’
‘You interest me keenly’ said Logan.
‘I am glad to hear it. And the penny public take freely. Our circulation goes up. I asked for a rise of three pence on the thousand words.’
‘Now this is what I call literary conversation,’ said Logan. ‘It is like reading The British Weekly Bookman. Did you get the threepence? if the inquiry is not indelicate.’
‘I got twopence. But, you see, there are so many of us.’
‘Tell me more. Are you serialising anything else?’
‘Serialising is the right word. I see you know a great deal about literature. Yes, I am serialising a featured tale.’
‘A featured tale?’
‘You don’t know what that is? You do not know everything yet! It is called Myself.’
‘Why Myself?’