Page:Paine--J Archibauld McKaney collector of whiskers.djvu/157



WAS enjoying a quiet afternoon with my notebooks in my London lodgings. I had been in England only three weeks and already my researches had been rewarded by the discovery of two very uncommon species or patterns of the Human Whisker. The portraits of their wearers were in process of being painted by competent artists, and I was in the midst of cataloguing these treasures according to my own system of classification and nomenclature when a commotion in the street caused me to hasten to the window.

A four-wheeler was maneuvering near the curb in a most surprising manner. Now the vehicle would sweep a circle and approach the door, then it would halt and back a few [139