Whether this was unconscious diplomacy on my part, or not, I shouldn't
like to say--but the remark was true enough, and it pleased him
extremely. "It _is_ a collection," he said emphatically. "Only I live
right in it, which most collectors don't. But I see that you know what
you are looking at. Not many people who come here on business do. Stable
fittings are more in their way."
I don't know whether my appreciation helped to advance my friend's
business but at any rate it helped our intercourse. He treated me with a
shade of familiarity as one of the initiated.
The last time I called on him to conclude the transaction we were
interrupted by a person, something like a cross between a bookmaker and a
private secretary, who, entering through a door which was not the
anteroom door, walked up and stooped to whisper into his ear.
"Eh? What? Who, did you say?"
The nondescript person stooped and whispered again, adding a little
louder: "Says he won't detain you a moment."
My little man glanced at me, said "Ah! Well," irresolutely. I got up
from my chair and offered to come again later.
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