The first of Fisbee's items was thus recorded: "It may be noted that the
new sign-board of Mr. H. Miller has been put in place. We cannot but
regret that Mr. Miller did not instruct the painter to confine himself to
a simpler method of lettering."
"Ah, Fisbee," murmured the editor, reproachfully, "that new sign-board is
almost the only improvement in the World of Business Plattville has seen
this year. I wonder how many times we have used it from the first, 'It is
rumored in business circles that Herve Miller contemplates'--to the
exciting, 'Under Way,' and, 'Finishing Touches.' My poor White Knight, are
five years of training wasted on you? Sometimes you make me fear it. Here
is Plattville panting for our story of the hanging of the sign, and you
throw away the climax like that!" He began to write rapidly, bending low
over the pad in the half darkness. His narrative was an amplification of
the interesting information (already possessed by every inhabitant) that
Herve Miller had put up a new sign. After a paragraph of handsome
description, "Herve is always enterprising," wrote the editor. "This is a
move in the right direction. Herve, keep it up."
He glanced over the other items meditatively, making alterations here and
there. The last two Fisbee had written as follows: "There is noticeable in the new (and somewhat incongruous) portico erected
by Solomon Tibbs at the residence of Mr. Henry Tibbs Willetts, an attempt
at rococo decoration which cannot fail to sadden the passer-by."
"Miss Sherwood of Rouen, whom Miss Briscoe knew at the Misses Jennings'
finishing-school in New York, is a guest of Judge Briscoe's household."
Fisbee's items were written in ink; and there was a blank space beneath
the last. At the bottom of the page something had been scribbled in
pencil. Harkless tried vainly to decipher it, but the twilight had fallen
too deep, and the writing was too faint, so he struck a match and held it
close to the paper. The action betokened only a languid interest, but when
he caught sight of the first of the four subscribed lines he sat up
straight in his chair with an ejaculation. At the bottom of Fisbee's page
was written in a dainty, feminine hand, of a type he had not seen for
years: "'The time has come,' the Walrus said,
'To talk of many things:
Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax--
And cabbages--and kings--'"
He put the paper in his pocket, and set off rapidly down the village
street.