t is not thus that a man
makes himself master of possibilities and guides them as one pleases.
You can come to no previous arrangement with destiny. To-morrow will not
obey you. There is a certain want of discipline in chance.

Therefore they watch for it, and summon it suddenly, authoritatively, on
the spot. No plan, no sketch, no rough model; no ready-made shoe
ill-fitting the unexpected. They plunge headlong into the dark. To turn
to immediate and rapid profit any circumstance that can aid him is the
quality which distinguishes the able scoundrel, and elevates the villain
into the demon. To strike suddenly at fortune, _that_ is true genius.

The true scoundrel strikes you from a sling with the first stone he can
pick up. Clever malefactors count on the unexpected, that senseless
accomplice of so many crimes. They grasp the incident and leap on it;
there is no better _Ars Poetica_ for this species of talent. Meanwhile
be sure with whom you have to deal. Survey the ground.

With Barkilphedro the ground was Queen Anne. Barkilphedro approached the
queen, and so close that sometimes he fancied he heard the monologues of
her Majesty. Sometimes he was present unheeded at conversations between
the sisters. Neither did they forbid his sliding in a word. He profited
by this to lessen himself--a way of inspiring confidence. Thus one day
in the garden at Hampton Court, being behind the duchess, who was behind
the queen, he heard Anne, following the fashion, awkwardly enunciating
sentiments.

"Animals are happy," said the queen. "They run no risk of going to
hell."

"They are there already," replied Josiana.

This answer, which bluntly substituted philosophy for religion,
displeased the queen. If, perchance, there was depth in the observation,
Anne felt shocked.

"My dear," said she to Josiana, "we talk of hell like a couple of
fools. Ask Barkilphedro all about it. He ought to know such things."

"As a devil?" said Josiana.

"As a beast," replied Barkilphedro, with a bow.

"Madam," said the queen to Josiana, "he is cleverer than we."

For a man like Barkilphedro to approach the queen was to obtain a hold
on her. He could say, "I hold her." Now, he wanted a means of taking
advantage of his power for his own benefit. He had his foothold in the
court. To be settled there was a fine thing. No chance could now escape
him. More than once he had made the queen smile maliciously. This was
having a licence to shoot. But was t