"Oh!"
"There are grey hairs in his beard."
"Quite old; old and little! What bad luck! He will have to look up to us."
"Well, you know, he can't help being small, can he?"
"I suppose, like most little men, he is as vain as he can stick, bumptious, and fidgety," said Venning, despondently.
"He struck me as being very quiet. At any rate, you can judge for yourself, as we are due to see him within half an hour. You must tell him that you are a naturalist, as he intends writing a book, in which a great deal of space will be given to animals. He said he felt a 'bit shaky on his pins' when it came to scientific terms."
"I should be glad to help him there," said Venning; "but it is too good. He would never take a youngster like me."
"He said he would rather have a youngster who would carry out his own views about treating a subject, than a man who would try to teach him his business. Come along and see him for yourself."
"Within half an hour the two friends who had just left school entered a room which was part library, part museum, armoury, dining- room, and cabin, so crammed it was.
"This is my friend Venning, Mr. Hume."