lood fly, eh?"

Shelton stood disconcerted, not knowing if he were expected to reply; but
the old gentleman, pursing up his lips, went on:

"Sir, there are no extremes in this fog-smitten land. Do ye think blanks
loike me ought to exist? Whoy don't they kill us off?
Palliatives--palliatives--and whoy? Because they object to th' extreme
course. Look at women: the streets here are a scandal to the world.
They won't recognise that they exist--their noses are so dam high! They
blink the truth in this middle-class counthry. My bhoy"--and he
whispered confidentially--"ut pays 'em. Eh? you say, why shouldn't they,
then?" (But Shelton had not spoken.) "Well, let'em! let 'em! But don't
tell me that'sh morality, don't tell me that'sh civilisation! What can
you expect in a counthry where the crimson, emotions are never allowed to
smell the air? And what'sh the result? My bhoy, the result is
sentiment, a yellow thing with blue spots, like a fungus or a Stilton
cheese. Go to the theatre, and see one of these things they call plays.
Tell me, are they food for men and women? Why, they're pap for babes and
shop-boys! I was a blanky actor moyself!"

Shelton listened with mingled feelings of amusement and dismay, till the
old actor, having finished, resumed his crouching posture at the table.

"You don't get dhrunk, I suppose?" he said suddenly--"too much of 'n
Englishman, no doubt."

"Very seldom," said Shelton.

"Pity! Think of the pleasures of oblivion! Oi 'm dhrunk every night."

"How long will you last at that rate?"

"There speaks the Englishman! Why should Oi give up me only pleasure to
keep me wretched life in? If you've anything left worth the keeping
shober for, keep shober by all means; if not, the sooner you are dhrunk
the better--that stands to reason."

In the corridor Shelton asked the Frenchman where the old man came from.

"Oh, and Englishman! Yes, yes, from Belfast very drunken old man. You
are a drunken nation"--he made a motion with his hands "he no longer
eats--no inside left. It is unfortunate-a man of spirit. If you have
never seen one of these palaces, monsieur, I shall be happy to show you
over it."

Shelton took out his cigarette case.

"Yes, yes," said the Frenchman, making a wry nose and taking a cigarette;
"I'm accustomed to it. But you're wise to fumigate the air; one is n't
in a harem."

And Shelton felt ashamed of his fastidiousness.

"This," said the guide, leading