simple and cultivated sentences, such as could not but carry conviction to any insufficiently salaried official.
"I think it well, officer," he said, addressing the senior of the two men, "to tell you the truth here privately. I will, of course, put the whole thing later before the proper authorities."
The policemen looked grave and acquiescent.
"The fact is," replied Professor Higginson rapidly, "I had been working very hard at my Address—which you may have heard of."
The two men looked at once as though they had.
"It was for the Bergson Society," he explained courteously, and the older policeman nodded as though he were a member himself.
"Well," went on Professor Higginson in the tone of a man who must out with it at last, "the fact is, there followed—there followed, I am sorry to say, there followed something like a stroke—at any rate, bad nervous trouble. … I have suffered—apparently for some days—from a complete loss of memory."
And having put the matter plainly and simply in such a fashion, Professor Higginson was silent.
