 | V Knowledge is Power |  |
5. V
TEN awful minutes of suspense passed over the heads of the company. Calkins perspired in a corner and accepted the congratulations of the crowd with a clammy and uncertain hand.
There was a shuffling of feet outside. In another moment Caleb Coppins entered with a large volume bound in limp leather. He opened it and laid it on the table. Then he pressed his finger on a certain spot and threw back his head haughtily. As many as could gather around the evidence regarded the fatal words and groaned. In his corner Mr. Calkins shivered. It was plain:
WAGNER, Richard, German composer, born at Leipsic, 1813; died at Baireuth, 1883.
Another scraping of feet outside, and Mrs. Hussey entered with Harold. Harold also had a book. Mr. Coppins deigned to glance at his antagonist's evidence, and his eyebrows lifted somewhat. Harold also had a volume of the "Pan-Continental Encyclopedic Dictionary"!
Then Caleb smiled. All the better — the same volume to tell the same story!
Mr. Coppins saw Mr. Calkins pounce wolfishly upon Harold's book and whip the pages over. Presently the search ended, and young Hussey pointed to a passage which Mr. Calkins eagerly read. Then the grocer strode toward Caleb with a countenance which somehow made the bibliophile wonder if he had forgotten anything. With a bold front, however, he turned upon Mr. Calkins and asked confidently:
"Is there any other question you'd like to ask me?"
There was a tense moment of hush in the room. A glint of wicked guile that sparked from Calkins's eyes brought a pale spot under each of Caleb's ears. Then he heard these words:
"Yes, Caleb, there are two questions I'd like to ask you. One of them is: Have you seen this?"
He planked down before Caleb Harold's volume of the "Pan-Continental" and glued his finger to a pink slip of paper inserted in front of the title-page. Then, in a loud and cheerful voice, he read the following into Caleb's ear:
"ERRATUM — On page 301 of this volume, under `WAGNER, Richard,' for `died at Baireuth,' read `died at Venice, Italy.'"
Defeated, stricken dumb, Mr. Coppins did not even attempt a reply. After a moment of dead silence the triumphant voice of Mr. Calkins went on:
"Yes, Caleb, and here's the second question — have you that hundred in your jeans?"
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