n on the Three Card Trick.

Nor did he lose touch with politicians, and this brought about the final
catastrophe. A great friend of his, the eminent John Brooke, had the
chance of becoming Prime Minister. Parties were at that time in a state
of confusion. The question was, should his friend ally himself with or
sever himself for ever from Mr. Capax Nissy, the leader of the Liberal
Aristocracy Party, who seemed to have a large following? His friend,
John Brooke, gave a small dinner to his most intimate friends in order
to talk over the matter. The man who gave good advice was so eloquent,
so cogent in his reasoning, so acute in his perception, that he
persuaded Brooke to sever himself for ever from Capax Nissy. He
persuaded all who were present, with the exception of Mr. Short-Sight,
a pig-headed man who reasoned falsely. So annoyed did the man who gave
good advice become with Short-Sight, and so excited in his vexation,
that he finally lost his self-control, and hit him as hard as he could
on the head--after Short-Sight had repeated a groundless assertion for
the seventh time--with the poker.

Short-Sight died, and the man who gave good advice was convicted of
wilful murder. He gave admirable advice to his counsel, but threw away
his own case as soon as he entered the box himself, which he insisted
on doing. He was hanged in gaol at Reading. Many people whom he had
benefited in various ways visited him in prison, among others John
Brooke, the Prime Minister. It is said that he would certainly have been
reprieved but for the intemperate and inexcusable letters he wrote to
the Home Secretary from prison.

"It's a great tragedy--he was a clever man," said Brooke after dinner
when they were discussing the misfortune at Downing Street; "a very
clever man, but he had no judgment."

"No," said Snipe, the man whose private secretary the man who gave
good advice had been, "That's it. It's an awful thing--but he had no
judgment."

RUSSALKA

Peter, or Petrushka, which was the name he was known by, was the
carpenter's mate; his hair was like light straw, and his eyes were mild
and blue. He was good at his trade; a quiet and sober youth; thoughtful,
too, for he knew how to read and had read several books when he was
still a boy. A translation of "Monte Cristo" once fell into his hands,
and this story had kindled his imagination and stirred in him the desire
to travel, to see new countries and strange people. He had made