ave him cried, "Oyez! Oyez!
Found a man of genius! Public property! open to inspection!" does not
the other half the world put on its spectacles, turn up its nose, and
cry, "That a man of genius, indeed! Pelt him!--pelt him!" Then of course
there is a clatter, what the vulgar call "a shindy," round the pedestal.
Squeezed by his believers, shied at by his scoffers, the poor man gets
horribly mauled about, and drops from the perch in the midst of the row.
Then they shovel him over, clap a great stone on his relics, wipe their
foreheads, shake hands, compromise the dispute, the one half the world
admitting that though he was a genius he was still an ordinary man; the
other half allowing that though he was an ordinary man he was still a
genius. And so on to the next pedestal with its "Hic stet," and the next
great stone with its "Hic jacet."

The manager of the Grand Theatrical Exhibition gazed on the blind
sailor, and did not know him from Adam!

CHAPTER IX.

The aboriginal man-eater, or pocket-cannibal, is susceptible of the
refining influences of Civilization. He decorates his lair with the
skins of his victims; he adorns his person with the spoils of those
whom he devours. Mr. Losely, introduced to Mr. Poole's friends,
dresses for dinner; and, combining elegance with appetite, eats them
up.

Elated with the success which had rewarded his talents for pecuniary
speculation, and dismissing from his mind all thoughts of the fugitive
Sophy and the spoliated Rugge, Jasper Losely returned to London in
company with his new friend, Mr. Poole. He left Arabella Crane to
perform the same journey unattended; but that grim lady, carefully
concealing any resentment at such want of gallantry, felt assured that
she should not be long in London without being honoured by his visits.

In renewing their old acquaintance, Mrs. Crane had contrived to
establish over Jasper that kind of influence which a vain man, full
of schemes that are not to be told to all the world, but which it is
convenient to discuss with some confidential friend who admires himself
too highly not to respect his secrets, mechanically yields to a woman
whose wits are superior to his own.

It is true that Jasper, on his return to the metropolis, was not
magnetically attracted towards Podden Place; nay, days and even weeks
elapsed, and Mrs. Crane was not gladdened by his presence. But she knew
that her influence was only suspended,--not extin