"And is that your only triumph," we asked—"the river?"
"Oh, no," he said. "There is a bird too. A new bird, about the size of a turkey."
"Turkey in Europe or Turkey in Asia?" we asked.
He pulled a gun from his belt and stroked it lovingly. There are moments when even an interviewer' recognises the dangers of importunity, and this was one.
ONE OF OUR GREATEST.
An Interview.
It was naturally not without difficulty that I won my way to the presence of so busy and influential a publicist. A man who spends his whole time in instructing the readers of so many different papers in the delicate art of discerning the best and ignoring the rest cannot have much margin for inquisitive strangers.
However, I succeeded in penetrating to his sanctum and, while waiting for the lion to appear, had an opportunity to look round. It was severely furnished—obviously the room of a great thinker. I noticed on the desk, which was covered with paper and note-books, a copy of Roget's Thesaurus and Taylor's Natural History of Enthusiasm. With two such works one can, of course, go far. On the wall were the mottoes, "We needs must love the highest when we see it," and (from The Bellman) "What I tell you three times is true." I noticed two portraits also: one was of a delightful grande dame who might have graced a pavane in the days of Louis Quinze, inscribed to her "fellow-worker in the great cause, from Madame de Boccage," and another was the photograph of a gay young Frenchman in English clothes, signed "To mon cher colleague from 'is sincere friend Alphonse." There were also three telephones on the table and several typewriters here and there.