“A short circuit? Oh, it's very simple,” said the fully informed parson. “A short circuit is when—when—oh yes, when it is only a very short way from the electric lamp to where the wire is joined on to the cable.”
“And that causes the fire?” she asked.
“Oh, of course—it is bound to, sooner or later.”
“I wonder why they don't make it longer then.”
“Oh, that's the way they scamp everything nowadays.”
Only a few days had passed before I heard him telling another lady of the good luck that had attended the pottering about bookstalls indulged in by a brother parson in a neighbouring town.
“He wrote to me a few days ago, to tell me that he had picked up a genuine 'Breeches' Bible for sixpence,” he said; “and only a short time before he bought a fine Aldine for fourpence. What luck!”
“Extraordinary,” said the lady. “I'm afraid that I forget what a 'Breeches' Bible is, Mr. Tomlinson.” He laughed good-naturedly.
“Pray, what is a 'Breeches' Bible?” she asked coaxingly.
He was quite ready for her.