ncent got it, and then I got it,
although I was downtown at the time it happened. But I'm coachin'
Vincent, and I don't think another one of 'em will get by very soon."

"You don't eh?" says Mr. Robert, indulgin' in another chuckle.

Then he spills what he overheard at lunch. Seems he was out with a
friend who took him to the Papyrus Club, which is where a lot of these
young hicks from the different book publishin' houses get together
noon-times; not Mr. Harper, or Mr. Scribner, or Mr. Dutton, but the
heads of departments, assistant editors, floor salesmen and so on.

And at the next table to Mr. Robert the guest of honor was a loud
talkin' young gent who'd just come in from a tour of the Middle West
with a bunch of orders big enough, if you let him tell it, to keep his
firm's presses on night shifts for a year. He was some hero, I take it,
and for the benefit of the rest of the bunch he was sketchin' out his
methods.

"As I understood the young man," says Mr. Robert, "his plan was to go
after the big ones; the difficult proposition, men of wealth and
prominence whom other agents had either failed to reach or had not dared
to approach. 'The bigger the better,' was his motto, and he referred to
himself, I think, as 'the wizard of the dotted line.'"

"Not what you'd exactly call a shrinkin' violet, eh?" I suggests.

"Rather a shrieking sunflower," says Mr. Robert. "And he concluded by
announcing that nothing would suit him better than to be told the name
of the most difficult subject in the metropolitan district--'the hardest
nut' was his phrase, I believe. He guaranteed to land the said person
within a week. In fact, he was willing to bet $100 that he could."

"Huh," says I.

"Precisely the remark of one of his hearers," says Mr. Robert. "The
wager was promptly made. And who do you suppose, Torchy, was named as
the most aloof and difficult man in New York for a book agent to--"

"Mr. Ellins," says I.

Mr. Robert nods. "My respected governor, none other," says he. "I fancy
he would be rather amused to know that he had achieved such a
reputation, although he would undoubtedly give you most of the credit."

"Or the blame," says I.

"Yes," admits Mr. Robert, "if he happened to be in the blaming mood.
Anyway, young man, there you have a direct challenge. Within the next
week the inner sanctum of the Corrugated Trust is to be assailed by one
who claims that he can penetrate the impenetrable, know the unknowable,