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Show RETURN OF FASTER." ' A man of middle height, with an old-fashioned old-fashioned goatee beard and a perplexed, perplex-ed, wondering air lie attracted leu Mention In the Chantrejr rqoiu by rta-t rta-t ion of the fait that most ot tho visitors, .'., vera young couplet absorbed In tbe study of eaebplhor. --flo loke3"at - lhtf young" pso. ,lth twluhttrrg-eytV ind nodded approvingly "No change therel" he aald with a Igb of relief. He went Into the Potter room and ' looked with Interest at hit own por- . trait on Iho walla Ono of tho engaged oouplet came up and looked over bli ihoulder. "Who' he teepoted to be, Oeorgef'. iiktd'lhe lady carclecaly. "Chip o' tho came ol Dickens," replied re-plied George, with the readiness of one , for whom tbe world ha no secrets, "Cherlrs Dickens." "I've 'esrd the name," ssld the young, ,.. - woman. "What wa he celebrlted for!'' "Writing chap," tald Oeorge. "Brer read any of hla works?'" asked "th lady persistently. The roan with the old-faihioncd beard put hit hspd to hit ear. . "Know tome of the titles of "em," answered Ueorgo evasively. At tbe glais-cnvcrcd catet was tome- thing more flattering. Thetc, spelling out the blue-Inked manuscript of "Dombey nnd Son," and reading with . greater ease the bolder handwriting , "Oliver Twist," a party of Amerl-' Amerl-' I, cans talked excitedly. In their -en-tButlatm they detlrtd to 'buy tbe books; they summoned a thoughtful policeman and asked him how many tboutand dollara hit people would re-qulra. re-qulra. fur c-ns of them, anyway. The thoughtful policeman shook his head slowly and tald, with retpect, that the i country would have to be precious hard up before It parted with one of them. This only Increased, the Amcrl-: Amcrl-: cani admiration. I "Thty'vo forghen mo for 'Martin v , ! Chuixlcwlt,'" ald the'Ynaitcr blmiclt. . "I'm glad." Ho went out of the museum presently Into Hromptdn road, nnd ttepped Into a 'but that carried htm to Pjccatlllly Circus. Ho teemed daicd. nj tlu'i whlto glow of Itvht tliilt met him there; at the high 'buildings bordering tho trl-sngulsr trl-sngulsr space. "This It not much llko London," ho . sold, "Not like my London." Leicester Square gave him more as-.tonlthment, as-.tonlthment, and ho hurrcd Into n fV- S! ' 'court and tried to think. Two matron- r ly women were bragging of their children; chil-dren; tbe eldest boy of ono wqi doing ' lomotUlng heroic In tho sixth standard - 'at the board school; the other, a palo woman, had a boy who was being looked look-ed after .by tin; poor law guardians, .. v and, the mother dcclaredr'wna ntJical- ' . '. thy as' healthy, a,nd about tojto (o ', . - . Knillcrv'liiil, "You'd never. bejjcvp ho '. I.T ' ' a son'o'rmlneV'-toliV tW white ' faced woman. ' " "" ( "I wonder," tald tho master, "I wonder won-der now whether 1 helped In thatl" An Idea occurtedta blfii.' "Drury . - Lanel" " , , - "' rf '. lie know the way $ul(e' well. Patt ' " tbe Qarrlck Club and along tho touth .. v.-- -' " rTlK ..,- .-iifF'ib towf. . VJ. '' '3t ' . " 'iilf- '''oomYYOimrACW- . sldo of Covcnt Garden, and eventually V '" Into Drury Mne "Now, i f Id, "I than be, remind: . ed.of tJieo"'irayV tfticro. Is the ' It teemed that Drury Lnno had, In n se ntc. been, to a dinjjtt 'P Itsflf - put right, and that tho dentist had ad-, vised Drury Lane to lay tjirra nil pitf , ' on! onofsJdo nnd'to'buy a itW tet, for 'tbcro were hugogaps whero bulldlngt had been pulled da.p, saps hldden'byr i Joytiil hoardings, .'the old graveyard" - had 'become, a clei)n, neat atpholti'd . . playground for children. "Changes!" bo said,, with only . a , , touch of "sadness, for b'owae not really '- tptv.. "Changes!" r -' ' Ho walled and listened, as had al-, ways been lilaiwwutr, to the t'atk1 of ..i.-v.r - ''the people It was tome time before ho could understand them, for they ' ' , . wero talking tho now, Cockney laugu-' laugu-' 1 1 ' agi and when be UM civilly wlial . ' , i.- cuiiuty thiy wcVe from they counseled ' blm to go borne and fry bit face. Tho advice might have been well Inten-tloncd, Inten-tloncd, but It was not, In view of nil the circumstances. prqcUcal,- sn1 he. ttroired'up to llolor'atid;iVoii t&. Illofmsbury'. Ilitcept OiaOtlfS district ore an accentuated lodglng-houto air, there was little of change A book-thop, book-thop, with n volume entitled "Tho Moral Mor-al Lessen of J'lckwlck Uy One Who Knew Dlckfnt," droye' blm Jrom , .,vDloo'rasbury , . ,, . li1 pack at OxrordClrfus tire awlft rush ' ' ' of trafflc, tho wlnklu, ttartllng ad-vertltemcnta ad-vertltemcnta that appeared and dlsap-piarcd, dlsap-piarcd, tho horseless cabt all thete thlngt confuted and wearied htm, and bo began to with for midnight. He tried to find Soho, and rould only discover dis-cover 8"isftesbury avenue Crossing the road, ho would have been hurt by a dtthlng, tplutterlng fire engine had not two young men In evening dreit caught ' i him neatly4 aWowleJ'hTm on to tho .psvemeat. "Not hurt, tlr.1 hope," sahl one . "Not hurt, thank yon," he replle'd, pantlqg, "but lonlcwhat startled. In-9nin In-9nin treMrrJiarrf 4han It wan In wy sr." . ",ye oil have to putbjaU the othT young .fcIlD ."nowadays- Can 1CB glve.jon ajiy forpiM' stalttapre, slrr; 'uentlemcnietald.courteouily, "It cannot tretpats'on jgur goodncts." "You look tired,'" tald tho first jouth "I am tired " "Come Into our club and tett for n bit. We are literary reen-of think we are and there will be" some othCre .there" ' It wat II 30 now. They enrprted Aim to tho clup. and took him up tho broad stnlrwaf Into' Che smoking roan Tho room wat lljled with the eceni of cigars and tht sound of voices, and ev cryone teemed to be talking about 'booWupbe matter. 'comfortable In nn armchair near the fire, lletened anxiously.' anxi-ously.' The members were all youtfg-lth.mn youtfg-lth.mn men Jo were; probrtly In their b'tCncttft nt the time thatrhls spirit flew away (rom Uad't HIM and from Ihlt earth. Hit iwo hosts left film with an excuse to oln the heated . debate. Current reputation's fprrpvd , the subject pf h conference, hnd. 1 order to save tlnv, everybody spbkrfiri once Msny were-rMklng about them-' selves.' , 'I "They've 7orgoltfn-me," tald tho matter, regretfully. i Indeed, this dldjvt nrjtesipcar to.4w I the cate I'retc'Jtly, hbwtver, -h ( caught hla name, nnd hejtalf row In the clulr. No tnrant:iiulha.r waiting f for hit lfrst notice could have been : moro nervout than be as a't that moment mo-ment (' " ' "Well," aMouil-vxiltisI man at the fireplace fire-place had said In vnenliug of n modern writer. "I've heard him rrferrcd to as h modern Dlckent." - ,.1'or a moment luvowns n hush, but: only, for a momeptt Tlintjtlljerc ralnod: down iion tho Igpjt-yo'lced "mjirvia twlft. deafening Vrut of gennlno reproof. re-proof. Kagerly the matter llttened. How dared any one (tho ymingjncm'-bers ymingjncm'-bers tald cxcjlcdly) compart! thT man w'0ylVfirr"ri t'Vat no one nawntytnifgli'cnptajior broitd -enough or ttrong enough o.iitlfr-mfhpaflson" with him Dickens to.l alone! Dlckent Dlck-ent alaa would stand alono! Dickens Dick-ens was the matter of them all "OcnJIjnjsoJ" cried oie of IheVoung men earnestly. "I glvo yir 'Charles Dickens'' dod Wtow.ldi ri'moly and keep;lf nly greenl' Tho Hpek lAraick JM Atltn'ppy-faced old-fatbroned man ttole qumlyout of the room HluitrateiDIAmdoii NeWt. |