“To say nothing of catechising a man on the subject of an old and dreadful scandal,” put in Munchausen. “I’m surprised at you, Livingstone. African etiquette seems to have ruined your sense of propriety.”
“I’d just as lief ask him,” said Doctor Johnson. “Etiquette? Bah! What business has etiquette to stand in the way of human knowledge? Conventionality is the last thing men of brains should strive after, and I, for one, am not going to be bound by it.”
Here Doctor Johnson touched the electric bell, and in an instant the shade of a buttons appeared.
“Boy, is Adam in the club-house to-day?” asked the sage.
“I’ll go and see, sir,” said the boy, and he immediately departed.
“Good boy that,” said Thackeray.
“Yes; but the service in this club is dreadful, considering what we might have,” said Darwin. “With Aladdin a member of this club, I don’t see why we can’t have his lamp with genii galore to respond. It certainly would be more economical.”
“True; but I, for one, don’t care to fool with genii,” said Munchausen. “When one member can summon a servant who is strong enough to take another member and do him up in a bottle and cast him into the sea, I have no use for the system. Plain ordinary mortal shades are good enough for me.”
As Munchausen spoke, the boy returned.
“Mr. Adam isn’t here to-day, sir,” he said, addressing Doctor Johnson. “And Charon says he’s not likely to be here, sir, seeing as how his account is closed, not having been settled for three months.”