h his female neighbours by politely
offering them that fruit!

And between the acts, when the young men in the stalls, in their white
ties, and white kid gloves, and nicely parted hair, stood up and
languidly surveyed the house through their opera-glasses, Kavanagh had a
sardonic amusement in the recollection as he thought that a fortnight
before he had sat in that fourth stall in the third row, in evening
dress, with a gardenia in his button-hole, and had similarly inspected
the inferior beings around him. Froggy Barton occupied that seat to-
night. Kavanagh took a squeeze at his orange, and thought he could hit
Froggy with the skin. But of course he refrained from trying. Only he
did look so sleek! "What much wiser people we are than the swells!"
Kavanagh thought. "We enjoy ourselves without being ashamed of it, and
we endure crowding and semi-suffocation without getting ill-tempered!"

But he soon had enough of it, in spite of his philosophy, and after the
second fall of the curtain was glad to get into the fresh air.

When he reached the Temple he found Royce expecting him, and directly he
entered he got up and shook him by the hand.

"I did not see the list till six," he said, "and then I came to chambers
in hopes of finding you, and getting you to come out somewhere. You
have not been moping, I hope."

"Moping! Not a bit of it," replied Kavanagh. "I am not going to cry `I
take a licking!' because Fortune has caught me a couple of facers
without a return. I have been to the theatre, and enjoyed myself
vastly, I assure you."

"To the theatre! You; in that dress!" exclaimed Royce.

"Oh, I went to the gallery. I have accepted the situation."

"Come and sit down and light a pipe," said Royce. "I won't bore you
with unavailing regrets. Tell me what you are going to do, and if I can
help you at all."

"Thank you; I have thought it probable I should fail, and have debated
with myself deliberately what course is best to adopt. I have come to a
conclusion, and no one can help me. My first thought was that if I
failed to be an officer I would be a private, and the more I have
thought it over the more convinced I have become that that would suit me
better than anything else. I have never learned a trade, so I could not
be a skilled artisan, and a soldier's life would suit me better than
that of an ordinary day labourer, whose work requires no head-piece. As
for spending my days in an office, a ware