"Here," droned little Eve Edgarton, slapping listlessly at the loose pile of pages beside her.
Conscientiously Barton reached out and gathered the flimsy papers into one trim handful. "Where shall I begin?" he asked.
"It doesn't matter," murmured little Eve Edgarton.
"What?" said Barton. Nervously he began to fumble through the pages. "Isn't there any beginning?" he demanded.
"No," moped little Eve Edgarton.
"Nor any end?" he insisted. "Nor any middle?"
"N—o," sighed little Eve Edgarton.
Helplessly Barton plunged into the unhappy task before him. On page nine there were perhaps the fewest blots. He decided to begin there.
"Paleontologically,"
the first sentence smote him—