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We suppose it was Bogg whom the Times reported, but of course we cannot be sure. The chances are that it was Bogg. It was pretty evident that he had committed suicide, and being "a well-known character," no doubt he had reasons for his rash act. Perhaps he was walking by himself in the dark along the river bank, and thinking of those reasons when the Times man saw him.
The antipathy of the local paper might have been accounted for by the fact that Bogg strayed into the office one day in a muddled condition during the absence of the staff at lunch and corrected a revise proof of the next week's leader, placing bracketed "query" and "see proof" marks opposite the editor's most flowery periods and quotations, and leaving on the margin some general advice to the printers to "space better."
He also corrected a Latin quotation or two, and added a few ideas of his own in good French. But no one, with the exception of the editor of the Times, ever dreamed that there was anything out of the common in the shaggy, unkempt head upon which poor Bogg used to "do his little time," until a young English doctor came to practise at Geebung.
The manager took time to digest this, and then asked: "What was the song?" "Oh, that was an old song we used to sing at the Dublin University," said the doctor. During his sober days Bogg used to fossick about among the old mullock heaps, or split palings in the bush, and just managed to keep out of debt.
A few days later the following paragraph appeared in the Geebung Times: "A well-known character named Bogg was found drowned in the river on Sunday last, his hat and coat being found on the bank. At a late hour on Saturday night a member of our staff saw a man walking slowly along the river bank, but it was too dark to identify the person."
The doctor rose and walked back to his friends with a graver face. "You seem interested in Bogg," said the bank manager. "Yes," said the doctor. "What was he mumbling about?" "Oh, that was a passage from Homer." "What?" The doctor repeated his answer. "Then do you mean to say he understands Greek?" "Yes," said the doctor, sadly; "he is, or must have been, a classical scholar."
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