nt of the club by relaxing our former rigorous exclusiveness.
Speaking as one of the committee, I have no doubt that the affair will be
dismissed as _justifiable homicide_."

Having bowed my acknowledgments I rang the bell. When the waiter appeared I
bade him "Bring me a black coffee and then clear away the remains of Mr.
Buttinbridge."

* * * * *

Then I was awakened by the voice of Buttinbridge yelling, "Wake up, old
Sport!"

* * * * *

[Illustration: _Grocer._ "NOW, MY MAN, THE BUTTER YOU BROUGHT US LAST
WEEK--EVERY PACKET OF IT WEIGHED ONLY FIFTEEN OUNCES."

_Farmer's Man._ "WELL, TO BE SURE, SIR, WE'D LOST OUR ONE-POUND WEIGHT; BUT
WE TOOK ONE OF YOUR POUND PACKETS OF TEA TO WEIGH IT WITH."]

* * * * *

THE PECULIAR CASE OF TOLLER.

Toller first floated into public notice on the fame of Rodman, who by an
irony of fate is now all but forgotten. Rodman, it may be remembered, was a
promising young poet during the first decade of this century. Out of a
scandalous youth whose verses made their appearance in slim periodicals
that expired before their periodicity could be computed, he was evolving
into a reputable poet who was given a prominent position facing advertising
matter in the heavy magazines when he met with his regrettably early end.
Apart from his poems he left no literary remains, except a few letters too
hideously ungrammatical for publication. The sole materials for a biography
lay in the memory of Toller, who by a stroke of luck happened to have known
him intimately.

By an equal piece of good fortune Toller had taken a course of mind
training and his memory was exceptionally retentive. His _Life of Rodman_
achieved instant success, a far greater than _Rodman's Collected Works_.
The undomesticities of a poet's life naturally excite greater interest in
the cultured than his utterances on Love, Destiny and other topics on which
poets are apt to discourse. Toller, until then a struggling journalist,
became all at once a minor literary celebrity, much in demand at
conversaziones and places where they chatter. Sympathy for Rodman aroused
curiosity which only Toller could satisfy.

His memory, continually stimulated by questions, gained further in
strength. The more he was asked the more he remembered, and so on in a
virtuous circle. His Rodmaniana provided him with a comfortable income. He
removed from Earl