King at the Century 



Was there ever so good a talker ? 

 And why was he so good ? I fancy 

 because, for one reason, he never 

 forgot himself in his subject. He 

 never, in fact, forgot anything. Every- 

 thing in the environment, whatever 

 the environment might be, lay cosily 

 in his mind in a state of the most 

 complete realization. Nothing ever 

 possessed him ; so far as his own 

 purposes went he was master of all 

 his material. Inattention was impos- 

 sible in his presence. He noted it 

 with the quickness of the predatory 

 eye and charmed it into interest at 

 once. To quote words applied to a 

 different spirit : " He was a man to 

 whom the ball of conversation was 

 really a ball, and not an anvil or a bar- 

 rel of flour." But though he loathed 

 the didactic, he loved discussion ; in 

 fact, one of his fondnesses was to start 

 a topic. Whatever your mood, some- 

 thing penetrating from him would 



