I  mentioned  The  Village  Book  Shop.  There's  a
character  for  you  in  its  proprietor.  There  is  nothing
cheap  about  this  shop,  and  nothing  cheap  in  it.  He
should  have  been  an  artist:  he  has  a  fine  sense  of
values.  You  need  look  for  no  bargains  there,  but  if
you  want  the  right  edition  you  will  get  it  at  the  right
price.  The  bargain  bookshop  is  never  a  very  good
bookshop,  for  the  bargain, — when  it  really  is  a  bar-
gain— implies  Inattention  to  business  on  the  part  of
the  proprietor,  which  is  bad  for  him  and  for  his  cus-
tomers. The  Village  Book  Shop  is  what  a  bookshop
should  be — a  rendezvous,  a  pleasant  retreat  into
which  one  may  enter  and  enjoy  bookish  chat.  If
you  are  a  purchaser,  you  will  be  welcomed  by  the
proprietor,  if  not — look  out  for  trouble.  He  has  lit-
tle skill  in  dissimulation;  and  if  you  don't  buy  or  ask
for  authors  for  whom  he  has  no  high  regard,
he  will  probably  tell  you  point-blank  that  your  taste
is  execrable,  and  that  you  ought  to  be  ashamed  of
yourself.     A  regular  wasp  of  a  fellow,  sometimes.
198  THE  LONDON  SPY

I  have  seen  him  buzz  at  people,  and  was  once  buzzed
at  myself  when  I  spent  two  hours  in  the  shop  with-
out buying.  No  deference  is  shown  to  the  whims
of  an  enquirer,  and  he  makes  no  attempt  to  woo
or  wheedle  that  sensitive  person,  the  idle  gossiper.
"What's  that?  Want  what?  First  editions  of
Jack  Hogshead?  No;  of  course  I  haven't  got  any.
This  is  a  Book  Shop.  Books.  That's  what  I  sell.
