The Explorer

rocess of digestion; and she was of opinion that a game of cards agreeably diverted the mind and prepared the intellect for the quips and cranks which might f

Presently Lucy grew more interested in his playing than in the game; she was struck, not only by his great gift of concentration, but by his boldness. He had a curious faculty for knowing almost from the beginning of a hand

Dick flung himself back

ay much better than you, and I hold be

excellent player, and hi

ad the odd in our hands, but not one of our finesses came off, and all his di

ness; I know that your brain acts very quickly and sees all kinds of remote contingencies; then you're so pleased at having noticed them that you

our opponents' cards is too

ce; it's apparently so much easier for the native to lie than to tell the truth that you get

chosen as her favourite, Dick went over to the fire and stood in front of it i

ke to exploration?' ask

crutinising look of his, a

ad nothing to do a

y had, because, if the natives didn't kill you, the climate made no bones about it. He came back crippled with fever, having failed in his attempt, and, after asserti

ly. 'I became great friends with Rofa, and he

ust to show it could be done,' retorted Dick 'You have a passion for doing things because t

ly too melodramat

wave of the hand. 'I call you to witness. When he was at Oxford, Alec was a regular dab at classics; he had a gift for writing verses i

ies,' said Alec. 'It would be quite a

t allow himself t

f it. One day his tutor got in a passion with him and said he'd rather teach arithmetic to a brick wall. I happened to be present, and he was certainly very rude. He was a man who had a precious gift for making people feel thor

eve a single word he s

fool in Christendom. Alec had made up his mind to be a mathematician. For more than two years he worked ten hours a day at a subject he loathed; he thre

gged his

but it taught me to conquer the one inc

the deuc

ry priggish,' laughed Al

ittle snort o

e Ages, what a fiendish joy you would have taken in mortifying your flesh, and in denying yourself everything th

find that you talk more and greater

onsense,' answered his friend, laughing. 'That's why

f down to make a

hy to do things, and what they are is of no consequence so long as you do them. I hate the mad hurr

you of cultivating it you

her for a momen

that I'm hard

ight still pass for thirty-tw

to her s

a grey hair

rvant plucks them

rely; one a mont

ne just beside t

quickly to

Charles! I shall have to g

t me take it out,'

g of the sort I should co

ous piece of information that y

nd I've been in the House since the general election. I've been earning two thousand a year, I've got nearly four thousand of my own, and I've never spent much more than half my

you call

gged his should

rest of us are only there to delude the British people

t you have no absorbing aim in

of the most vehement type,' an

to be,' said Mrs. Crowley, who dressed with admi

gged his

them. They are indifferent to the importance of the stakes at issue, but make their vote a matter of ignoble barter. The parliamentary candidate is at the mercy of faddists and cranks. Now, I think that women, when they have vot

that was unusual to him. Alec wat

clusions have

ot answer, then he ga

re will be a general election in a few months, and I have made up my mind to inform the whips that I shall not stand again. I s

ally do that?' c

y n

idleness will simpl

ow. Work is a sedative. It keeps people quiet and contented. It makes them good material for their leaders. I think the greatest imposture of Christian times is the sanctification of labour. You see, the early Christians were slaves, and it was necessary to show them that their obligatory toil was noble and virtuous.

uch all at once,' said Mrs. Crow

ould not b

at the back of me a very large firm of solicitors. And I can find nothing worthy in attending to these foolish disputes. In most cases it's six of one and half a dozen of the other, and each side is very unjust and pig-headed. No, the bar is a fair wa

career that may be very brilliant? You should ge

cking the boots of a few

rous experiment th

ight into Alec M

n that account?' he said, smiling. 'Surely exp

that you mean to devote you

to be a dilettante. I want to devote myself to the graces of life. I'm forty, and for all I know I haven't so very many years be

fire. Presently he took a long breath, rose from

. But, for my part, I would rather go on till I dropped. There are ten thousand things I want to d

pose will be the end

r m

not otherwise reply

ely, worn out with disease and exposure; and my bearers will make

ble,' said Mrs. Cro

th, to be anything else. When my time comes, I cannot escape it.' He smiled whimsically. 'But I believe i

pursued with a savage intensity, knowing that the end was a dreadful, lonely death; and the man who was making up his

ndred years,' said Dick. 'We shall both be forgotten long be

do you draw from that

gical moment has arrive