ld beast hasn't so bad a life,' he said.--To be
well fed while they live, and welcome death as a release from the
maladies they develop in idleness, is the condition of wealthy
people:--creatures of prey? horrible thought! yet allied to his Idea, it
seemed. Yes, but these good caged beasts here set them an example, in not
troubling relatives and friends when they come to the gasp! Mrs. Burman's
invitation loomed as monstrous--a final act of her cruelty. His skin
pricked with dews. He thought of Nataly beside him, jumping the ditch
with him, as a relief--if she insisted on doing it. He hoped she would
not, for the sake of her composure.

It was a ditch void of bottom. But it was a mere matter of an hour, less.
The state of health of the invalid could bear only a few minutes. In any
case, we are sure that the hour will pass. Our own arrive? Certainly.

'Capital place for children,' he exclaimed. And here startlingly before
him in the clusters of boys and girls, was the difference between young
ones and their elders feeling quite as young: the careless youngsters
have not to go and sit in the room with a virulent old woman, and express
penitence and what not, and hear words of pardon, after their holiday
scamper and stare at the caged beasts.

Attention to the children precipitated him upon acquaintances, hitherto
cleverly shunned. He nodded them off, after the brightest of greetings.

Such anodyne as he could squeeze from the incarcerated wild creatures,
was exhausted. He fell to work at Nataly's 'aristocracy of the contempt
of luxury'; signifying, that we the wealthy will not exist to pamper
flesh, but we live for the promotion of brotherhood:--ay, and that our
England must make some great moral stand, if she is not to fall to the
rear and down. Unuttered, it caught the skirts of the Idea: it evaporated
when spoken. Still, this theme was almost an exorcism of Mrs. Burman. He
consulted his watch. 'Thirteen minutes to four. I must be punctual,' he
said. Nataly stepped faster.

Seated in the carriage, he told her he had never felt the horror of that
place before. 'Put me down at the corner of the terrace, dear: I won't
drive to the door.'

'I come with you, Victor,' she replied.

After entreaties and reasons intermixed, to melt her resolve, he saw she
was firm: and he asked himself, whether he might not be constitutionally
better adapted to persuade than to dissuade. The question thumped. Having
that house of drugs i