. Life was unutterably and intensely
selfish. Every little unit in that seething mass was so entirely, so
strangely self-centered. None of them had any real love or friendliness
for the millions who toiled around them, no one seemed to have time to
take his eyes from his own work and his own interests. Burton became
more and more depressed as the days passed. Then he closed his eyes and
tried an antidote. He abandoned this study of his fellow-creatures and
plunged once more into the museums, sated himself with the eternal
beauties, and came out to resume his place amid the tumultuous throng
with rested nerves and a beatific smile upon his lips. It mattered so
little, his welfare of to-day or to-morrow--whether he went hungry or
satisfied to bed! The other things were in his heart. He saw the
truth.

One day he met his late employer. Mr. Waddington was not, in his way,
an ill-natured man, and he stopped short upon the pavement. Burton's
new suit was not wearing well. It showed signs of exposure to the
weather. The young man himself was thin and pale. It was not for Mr.
Waddington to appreciate the soft brilliance of his eyes, the altered
curves of his lips. From his intensely practical point of view, his
late employee was certainly in low water.

"Hullo, Burton!" he exclaimed, coming to a standstill and taking the
pipe from his mouth.

"How do you do, sir?" Burton replied, civilly.

Getting on all right, eh?

"Very nicely indeed, thank you, sir."

Mr. Waddington grunted.

"Hm! You don't look like it! Got a job yet?"

"No, sir."

"Then how the devil can you be getting on at all?" Mr. Waddington
inquired.

Burton smiled quite pleasantly.

"It does seem queer, sir," he admitted. "I said that I was getting on
all right because I am contented and happy. That is the chief thing
after all, isn't it?"

Mr. Waddington opened his mouth and closed it again.

"I wish I could make out what the devil it was that happened to you," he
said. "Why, you used to be as smart as they make 'em, a regular nipper
after business. I expected you'd be after me for a partnership before
long, and I expect I'd have had to give it you. And then you went clean
dotty. I shall never forget that day at the sale, when you began
telling people everything it wasn't good for them to know."

"You mean that it wasn't good for us for them to know," Burton corrected
gently.

Mr. Waddington laughed. He had a large amount of easy good-humor and