ired of the subject that the authorities had to
put him in prison and keep him there until he said it wasn't true, and
that he'd stop writing books to say it was. As a matter of fact it was
true, but it didn't matter. We'd all be doing exactly the same things we
are doing to-day if he had never made his beastly telescope. On the
other hand, men who get a hold of really important ideas often think very
little of them. Look, for example, at the case of the man who first
thought of collecting a lot of people together and making them pass a
unanimous resolution. He didn't even take the trouble to patent the
process, and now there's no record left of when and where he hit upon his
idea. And yet, where would we all be without unanimous resolutions?
Doyle will tell you that government couldn't be carried on and
civilisation would practically become extinct. It may be the same with
this idea of yours, and I've no doubt that I'll be able to judge if you
tell me what it is."

"He was thinking," said Doyle, "of having a picture of an apple tree in
the top left-hand corner of the address with apples on it, and the same
tree in the top right-hand corner with no apples. He says it would be
agreeable to the sergeant."

"I don't think much of that," said Meldon. "It strikes me as a poor
idea, for three reasons. In the first place, you'll not be able to get
an artist who can draw the apple trees so that any ordinary man could
recognise them. I know what I'm talking about, for apple trees
necessarily come a good deal into ecclesiastical art, the kind of art I'm
most familiar with. I give you my word that the most of them might as
well be elms, and I've seen lots that look like Florence Court yews. As
a general rule, you wouldn't have a ghost of a notion what they were
meant for if it wasn't for Eve and the serpent. In the next place, I
don't think the sergeant would care for it. The whole business must be
painful to him, and he won't care to be obliged every day of his life to
be staring at something that would remind him of Simpkins. In the third
place, it would almost certainly irritate Simpkins when he heard of it."

"It's that," said Doyle, "that we were hoping it might do."

"Well, then, you may put the idea out of your heads. I can't have
Simpkins irritated at present. It's of the utmost possible importance
that he should be lulled into a sense of security. I can't deal with him
if his suspicions are aroused i