ed considerable
thought. I may go further, and say, one which I have reduced to a sort
of theory. These men are signs of the times,--emblems of our era;
just like the cholera, the electric telegraph, or the gold-fields of
Australia. We must not accept them as normal, do you perceive? They are
the abnormal incidents of our age."

"Quite true, most just, very like the electric telegraph!" muttered
Twining.

"And by that very condition only exercising a passing influence on our
society, sir," said his Lordship, pursuing his own train of thought.

"Perfectly correct, rapid as lightning."

"And when they do pass away, sir," continued the Viscount, "they leave
no trace of their existence behind them. The bubble buret, the surface
of the stream remains without a ripple. I myself may live to see; you,
in all probability, will live to see."

"Your Lordship far more likely,--sincerely trust as much," said Twining,
bowing.

"Well, sir, it matters little which of us is to witness the extinction
of this Plutocracy." And as his Lordship enunciated this last word, he
walked off like one who had totally exhausted his subject.

CHAPTER VIII. MR. DUNN.

MR. Davenport Dunn sat at breakfast in his spacious chamber overlooking
the Lake of Como. In addition to the material appliances of that meal,
the table was covered with newly arrived letters, and newspapers, maps,
surveys, railroad sections, and Parliamentary blue-books littered about,
along with chalk drawings, oil miniatures, some carvings in box and
ivory, and a few bronzes of rare beauty and design. Occasionally
skimming over the newspapers, now sipping his tea, or now examining some
object of art through a magnifier, he dallied over his meal like one who
felt the time thus passed a respite from the task of the day. At last
he walked out, and, leaning over the balcony, gazed at the glorious
landscape at his feet. It was early morning, and the great masses of
misty clouds were slowly beginning to move up the Alps, disclosing
as they went spots of bright green verdure, dark-sided ravines and
cataracts, amid patches of pine forest, or dreary tracts of snow still
lying deep in the mountain clefts. Beautiful as was the picture of the
lake itself, and the wooded promontories along it, his eyes never turned
from the rugged grandeur of the Alpine range, which he continued to gaze
at for a long time. So absorbed was he in his contemplation, that he
never noticed the approach o