Chapter 4

“Eheu alas how fast the dam fugaces Labuntur anni especially in the cases Of poor old blokes like you and me Posthumus Who only wait for vermes to consume us.” “Well,” I exclaimed, “it is a choice specimen; one of old Luttrell’s merry conceited jests, I take it. But the joke was hardly worth the labour of engraving on a seal.” “It is certainly a rather mild jest,” Thorndyke admitted. “But there may be something more in it than meets the eye.” He looked at the inscription reflecti…