g, shall we?"

"Please do."

"Yes, do go on," said Titania. "Mr. Mifflin was just reading about a
most adorable head waiter in a London chop house."

Aubrey begged permission to light his pipe, and Roger picked up the
book. "But before we read the items of the coffee-room bill," he said,
"I think it only right that we should have a little refreshment. This
passage should never be read without something to accompany it. My
dear, what do you say to a glass of sherry all round?"

"It is sad to have to confess it," said Mrs. Mifflin to Titania, "Mr.
Mifflin can never read Dickens without having something to drink. I
think the sale of Dickens will fall off terribly when prohibition comes
in."

"I once took the trouble to compile a list of the amount of liquor
drunk in Dickens' works," said Roger, "and I assure you the total was
astounding: 7,000 hogsheads, I believe it was. Calculations of that
sort are great fun. I have always intended to write a little essay on
the rainstorms in the stories of Robert Louis Stevenson. You see R. L.
S. was a Scot, and well acquainted with wet weather. Excuse me a
moment, I'll just run down cellar and get up a bottle."

Roger left the room, and they heard his steps passing down into the
cellar. Bock, after the manner of dogs, followed him. The smells of
cellars are a rare treat to dogs, especially ancient Brooklyn cellars
which have a cachet all their own. The cellar of the Haunted Bookshop
was, to Bock, a fascinating place, illuminated by a warm glow from the
furnace, and piled high with split packing-cases which Roger used as
kindling. From below came the rasp of a shovel among coal, and the
clear, musical slither as the lumps were thrown from the iron scoop
onto the fire. Just then the bell rang in the shop.

"Let me go," said Titania, jumping up.

"Can't I?" said Aubrey.

"Nonsense!" said Mrs. Mifflin, laying down her knitting. "Neither of
you knows anything about the stock. Sit down and be comfortable. I'll
be right back."

Aubrey and Titania looked at each other with a touch of embarrassment.

"Your father sent you his--his kind regards," said Aubrey. That was
not what he had intended to say, but somehow he could not utter the
word. "He said not to read all the books at once."

Titania laughed. "How funny that you should run into him just when you
were coming here. He's a duck, isn't he?"

"Well, you see I only know him in a business way, but he cer