ell headlong after it. He was plucked from a
watery grave, it is believed, by the hands of Mr. Godall. Even as he was
being hoisted dripping to the shore, a dull and choked explosion shook
the solid masonry of the Embankment, and far out in the river a
momentary fountain rose and disappeared.

FOOTNOTE:

[4] The Arabian author, with that quaint particularity of touch
which our translation usually praetermits, here registers a somewhat
interesting detail. Zero pronounced the word "boom"; and the reader,
if but for the nonce, will possibly consent to follow him.

THE SUPERFLUOUS MANSION (_continued_)

Somerset in vain strove to attach a meaning to these words. He had, in
the meanwhile, applied himself assiduously to the flagon; the plotter
began to melt in twain, and seemed to expand and hover on his seat; and
with a vague sense of nightmare, the young man rose unsteadily to his
feet, and, refusing the proffer of a third grog, insisted that the hour
was late and he must positively get to bed.

"Dear me," observed Zero, "I find you very temperate. But I will not be
oppressive. Suffice it that we are now fast friends; and, my dear
landlord, _au revoir_!"

So saying the plotter once more shook hands; and with the politest
ceremonies, and some necessary guidance, conducted the bewildered young
gentleman to the top of the stair.

Precisely how he got to bed was a point on which Somerset remained in
utter darkness; but the next morning when, at a blow, he started broad
awake, there fell upon his mind a perfect hurricane of horror and
wonder. That he should have suffered himself to be led into the
semblance of intimacy with such a man as his abominable lodger,
appeared, in the cold light of day, a mystery of human weakness. True,
he was caught in a situation that might have tested the aplomb of
Talleyrand. That was perhaps a palliation; but it was no excuse. For so
wholesale a capitulation of principle, for such a fall into criminal
familiarity, no excuse indeed was possible; nor any remedy, but to
withdraw at once from the relation.

As soon as he was dressed, he hurried upstairs, determined on a rupture.
Zero hailed him with the warmth of an old friend.

"Come in," he cried, "dear Mr. Somerset! Come in, sit down, and, without
ceremony, join me at my morning meal."

"Sir," said Somerset, "you must permit me first to disengage my honour.
Last night, I was surprised into a certain appearance of