an evil nature, but when we come to consider the
great antiquity of the individual it becomes doubtful if it
was anything more than the natural cynicism which arises
from age and bitter experience, and the possession of
extraordinary powers of observation. It is a well known fact
that very often, putting the period of boyhood out of the
question, the older we grow the more cynical and hardened we
get; indeed many of us are only saved by timely death from
utter moral petrifaction if not moral corruption. No one
will deny that a young man is on the average better than an
old one, for he is without that experience of the order of
things that in certain thoughtful dispositions can hardly
fail to produce cynicism, and that disregard of acknowledged
methods and established custom which we call evil. Now the
oldest man upon the earth was but a babe compared to Ayesha,
and the wisest man upon the earth was not one-third as wise.
And the fruit of her wisdom was this, that there was but one
thing worth living for, and that was Love in its highest
sense, and to gain that good thing she was not prepared to
stop at trifles. This is really the sum of her evil doings,
and it must be remembered, on the other hand, that, whatever
may be thought of them, she had some virtues developed to a
degree very uncommon in either sex--constancy, for
instance.--L. H. H.

My own opinion is that he would have been mad if he had done so. But
then I confess that my statement on the matter must be accepted with
qualifications. I am in love with Ayesha myself to this day, and I would
rather have been the object of her affection for one short week than
that of any other woman in the world for a whole lifetime. And let me
add that, if anybody who doubts this statement, and thinks me foolish
for making it, could have seen Ayesha draw her veil and flash out in
beauty on his gaze, his view would exactly coincide with my own. Of
course, I am speaking of any _man_. We never had the advantage of a
lady's opinion of Ayesha, but I think it quite possible that she
would have regarded the Queen with dislike, would have expressed her
disapproval in some more or less pointed manner, and ultimately have got
herself blasted.

For two hours or more Leo and I sat with shaken nerves and frightened
eyes, and talked over the miraculous events through which w