is so palpably declined. Good-bye,--farewell," said he to me.

"Good-bye," said I, with a gulp that almost choked me; and away drove
the carriage, leaving me standing in the train of dust it had raised.
Every crack of the postboys' whips gave me a shock as though I had felt
the thong on my own shoulders; and, at last, as sweeping round a turn of
the road the carriage disappeared from view, such was the sense of utter
desolation that came over me, that I sat down on a stone by the wayside,
overwhelmed. I do not know if I ever felt such an utter sense of
destitution as at that moment. "What a wealth of friends must a man
possess," thought I, "who can afford to squander them in this fashion!
How could I have repelled the counsels that kindness alone could have
prompted? Surely Crofton must know far more of life than I did?" From
this I went on to inquire why it was that the world showed itself so
unforgiving to idleness in men of small fortune, since, if no burden to
the community, they ought to be as free as their richer brethren. It was
a puzzling theme, and though I revolved it long, I made but little of
it; the only solution that occurred to me was, that the idleness of the
humble man is not relieved by the splendors and luxuries which surround
a rich man's leisure, and that the world resents the pretensions of ease
unassociated with riches. In what a profound philosophy was it, then,
that Diogenes rolled his tub about the streets! There was a mock purpose
about it, that must have flattered his fellow-citizens. I feel assured
that a great deal of the butterfly-hunting and beetle-gathering that we
see around us is done in this spirit They are a set of idle folk anxious
to indulge their indolence without reproach.

Thus pondering and musing, I strolled back to the town. So still and
silent was it, so free from all movement of traffic or business, that
I was actually in the very centre of it without knowing it. There
were streets without passengers, and shops without customers, and even
_cafes_ without guests, and I wondered within myself why people should
thus congregate to do nothing, and I rambled on from street to alley,
and from alley to lane, never chancing upon one who had anything in
hand. At last I gained the side of the lake, along which a little
quay ran for some distance, ending in a sort of terraced walk, now
grass-grown and neglected. There were at least the charms of fresh air
and scenery here, though the