Clara looked up from her desk, watched them as they went out at the door and, for a moment, seemed lost. Barnes turned round.
‘Now, Miss Hopgood.’ She started.
‘Yes, sir.’
‘Fabricius, J. A. Bibliotheca Ecclesiastica in qua continentur.’
‘I need not put in the last three words.’
‘Yes, yes.’ Barnes never liked to be corrected in a title. ‘There’s another Fabricius Bibliotheca or Bibliographia. Go on—Basili opera ad MSS. codices, 3 vols.’
Clara silently made the entries a little more scholarly. In a quarter of an hour the parcel was ready and Cohen returned.
‘Your sister would not allow me to wait. She met Mrs Marshall; they said they should have something to carry, and that it was not worth while to bring it here. I will walk with you, if you will allow me. We may as well avoid Holborn.’
They turned into Gray’s Inn, and, when they were in comparative quietude, he said,—
‘Any Chartist news?’ and then without waiting for an answer, ‘By the way, who is your friend Dennis?’