The whole epitome of modern life was, he argued, to be found among the columns of the daily press. The police news, perhaps, was his favourite study, but he did not neglect the advertisements. It followed, therefore, as a matter of course, that the appeal of M in the personal column of the Daily Mail was read by him on the morning of its appearance - read not once only nor twice - it was a paragraph which had its own peculiar interest for him.