He took up a paper and pointed to a paragraph.
Falk, very much taken aback, read the following advertisement:
"Notice to subscribers: The Torch of Reconciliation. Magazine for Christian readers, about to appear under the editorship of Arvid Falk whose work has been awarded a prize by the Academy of Sciences. The first number will contain 'God's Creation,' by Hokan Spegel, a poem of an admittedly religious and profoundly Christian spirit."
Falk had forgotten Spegel and his agreement; he stood speechless.
"How large is the edition going to be? What? Two thousand, I suppose. Too small! No good! My Last Judgment was ten thousand, and yet I didn't make more than—what shall I say?—fifteen net."
"Fifteen?"
"Thousand, young man!"
The mask seemed to have forgotten his part and reverted to old habits.
"You know," he continued, "that I'm a popular preacher; I may say that without boasting, for all the world knows it. You know, that I'm very popular; I can't help that—it is so! I should be a hypocrite if I pretended not to know what all the world knows! Well, I'll give you a helping hand to begin with. Look at this bag here! If I say that it contains letters from persons—ladies—don't upset yourself, I'm a married man—begging for my portrait, I have not said too much."
As a matter of fact it was nothing but an ordinary bag which he touched with his whip.