"Yes; he has made several 'finds,' as he calls them. My friend bought some from him a short time ago."
"What! has he been selling them again?"
"Yes; I wonder why! He called on my friend quite late one night, and sold him twelve very valuable books. He got fifty pounds for them. I wonder why he sold them--he is so fond of his old books! But here we are! Isn't it a queer, musty old place!"
Koko received the girls with a smile of genuine pleasure. He bustled about and got tea for them, and then Dora played to them both on a very old but still tuneful piano that Koko had picked up at a sale years since.
Then, while Miss Cook sat down and tried to pick out a march on the piano, Koko showed Dora his treasures, and spent quite a time telling her little anecdotes as to how this book and that book had come into his possession. While he talked, Dora was putting two and two together. She remembered how amazed Jim had looked when Koko said he was going to set up in Mount street, and she remembered how Koko had hurried away in the middle of dinner. She understood now why he had done so.
"Some have gone from here," said Dora, pointing to a gap in one of the shelves.
"Yes," said Koko, in an off-hand way, "I have a clear-out occasionally."
"Did you sell them?" she asked.
"Rather--I don't give my books away."
"And did you get a good price for them?"