"Then you do not read the Riverton paper?"
"No, sir, I do not."
"I seldom read it myself," the doctor remarked, "or I would have remembered these verses. They are very clever and breathe the true spirit of patriotism. They really fit admirably into the rest of the poem, which I will read. Will you get your copy of the verses, Sheldon, and let some one compare them?"
"Certainly, sir," and Jack arose and left the place, returning shortly and handing a copy of his poem to Percival.
Then the doctor read the poem, and Percival showed by his expression that it was identical with the one in his hand.
"It is the same, sir," he said, "but it does not contain the opening lines which you read before."
"I don't see how they got in there, Dick," said Jack. "I am sure that I did not put them in. How could I? It would have been a most astonishing piece of absent-mindedness. Besides, I have only the printed copy now."
"However, it happened that the opening lines belong to another poem," observed the doctor, "both by the same author, it does not alter the fact that both fit the subject admirably, and might easily be a part of one production. The metre is the same, and the subject as well. The first serves excellently as an introduction to the other."
"I can see that they do, sir,", replied Jack, "but I am certain that I did not submit both. By the way," with a sudden inspiration, "may I see the manuscript, sir?"
"If you will come to the desk I shall be pleased to show it to you."