erience goes, it agrees with that of Balzac-a fact the admirer

les from a small seaport town, seemed to be peculiarly rich in such. They were, from all accounts, including their own, persons who had formerly behaved with quite unnecessary depravity, and who, at the time I knew them, appeared to be going to equally objectionable l

e responded to my inquiries by saying that he had been "Oh, generally bad," and increased my longing for detail by adding that little boys ought not to want to know ab

t by his wife, a bony lady of unpreposses

nd, being left alone with him for a few minutes, I took the

eking by emphasis on the "once" to mitigate what I f

his wizened face, and a sound which I tried to think a

've been a bit of a

conscientious person, especially where the shortcomings of other people were concerned; a person who laboured

d, dismissing further reflection upon the etym

aspect of resigned melancholy. "I be a brand plucked from the

ersisted, determined, now that I had started this investi

ake sure, apparently, that no one but myself was within hearing, he leaned across and hissed these

her, I'd like to

rate wish; and thus early my faith in the possibility of man's reformation

not made to be reformed. You can develop

with hearthrugs to lie on and sufficient milk to drink, it will purr and behave like an affectionate domesti

superior ape. You can go on developing it through still a few more thousands of generations until it gathers to itself out of the waste v

ck for a moment, as during "Spanish Furies," or "September massacres," or Western mob rule, it creeps out and bit

but through will. When his friends remonstrated with him, he told them to mind their own business, and to let him mind his. If he saw

rted, he never went to bed sober. This may be an exaggeration-it would be a singular repor

k. He signed no pledge, he took no oath. He said, "I will never tou

hat he desired to be rid of it altogether. He was a man accustomed, when he desired a thing within his

make this a long story, that it should be done that very night, and, if possible, before el

him until seven. He then called a cab and drove to a small hotel in the suburbs, engaged a private room, and ordered up mat

h his watch before him. At half-past ten he rang th

drink had never died. For twenty-six years he had, being a great man, held it gripped by the throat. When all things became a matter of indi

t held down day after day. I never hear washy talk about "changed characters" and "reformed natu

air and beard, and wild, fighting eyes. Most of the preachers who came "reviving," as it was called, through that district, had those eyes. Some

-so us have," c

t rid of him," con

fervent voice at the end of the

turned on him a

on that, lad. Ye've got him an' ye've got ta keep him.

of angry disapproval, but the

hug him tight. Doan't let him go. Hold him fast, and-LAM I

ested by Brown as an unhackneyed idea, and one lending itself, therefore, to co

us to accomplish artistic work. He was of opinion that we should be more sur

rdour. He was tired, he said, of the crystal-hearted, noble-thinking young man of fiction. Besides, it made bad

idea of a hero, with reference to whom I can only sa

ot for the first time, and not, perhaps, altogether unnecessarily, that these

ttacked the subjec

ought the discussion down to the question with which I have commenced this chapter: Does man ever reform? I argued in the negative, and gave the reasons for my disbelief much as I have set them forth here. Mac

ll-power enabling a man to overcome and rise superior to th

ckly, seeing his hand reaching out towards a complete Shakespeare in one volume that lay upon the piano, "your mental capab

isposition were clearly apparent, but pleaded that the illustration was a

ink that there are some experiences great en

, or it may strengthen a man, just as passing through a furnace may melt or purify metal, but no furnace

element. He likened it to a drug-poison or elixir-compounded by each man for himself from the pharmacopoeia of all things known to life and

case practically; did you ever k

ce that happened to him. It may, as you say, only have been that he was shattered, or that the lesson may

us the history of the

med tyrannical. When I saw him three years later, he was an old man of twenty-nine, gentle and yielding beyond the border-line of weakness, mistrustful of himself and considerate of others to a degree that was often unwise. Formerly, his anger had been a thing very easily and frequently aroused. Since the change of which I speak, I have never

with him when

a hard judge of some follies.' And, knowing what

m, it was suggested that he should go out and take the management of it. The plan suited him admirably. He was a man in every way qualified to lead a rough life; to face a by no means contemptible amount of difficulty and danger, to govern a small

posite which Nature, for the purpose of maintaining her average, has implanted in our breasts-a timid, meek-eyed creature, one of those women to whom death is less terrible than danger, and fate easier to face

ng to himself, there can be no doubt, but it was with the love that such men have for the dog they will thrash, the horse they will spur to a broken back. To consult her on the subject never entered his head. He informed her one day of his decision and of the date of their sailing, and, handing her a handsome cheque, told her to purchase all things necessary to her, and to

e to repress a scream whenever she turned and saw in the gloom a pair of piercing eyes looking out at her from a dusky face, who was liable to drop off her horse with fear at the sound of a

retty and becoming to them, and that if one could only convince them of the folly of it they might be induced to lay it aside, in the same way that they lay aside mincing steps and simpering voices. A man

to be apprehended from them. A reptile is only too eager at all times to escape from man. Unless attacked or frightened, it will make no onset. Most people are content to acquire their knowledge of this fact from the natural history books. He had proved it for himself. His servant, an old sergeant of dragoons, has told me that he has seen him stop with his face six inches from the head

than he had anticipated, but it left a terror in his own eyes

ooting, and his loaded rifle hung by his stirrup. Springing from the frightened horse, he was just in time to get a shot at the creature before it disappeared. He had hardly expected, under the circumstances, to even hit it. By chance the bullet struck it at

ould use this dead reptile to cure his wife of her fear of living ones. He would fix matters so that she should see it, and think it was alive, and be terrified by it; then he woul

iption. He arranged the monster in a very natural and life-like position. It appeared to be crawling from the open window

it face downward upon the couch. When he had completed all things to his

a cigar and sat smoki

ed?' he said to her a

g him a lazy old thing, a

I left it in my den. Do you mind?

and ran light

ok, he thought how pretty and how sweet she was; and for the first time a faint

-'; then, enamoured of the brilliancy of h

d to himself. He thought the affair was going to be rather amusing.

sed, and he still sat gazing dreamily

Then he heard what he had been expecting to hear-a piercing shriek. Then another, which, expecting to hear the clanging of the

nother, and another,

id down the thing that was in his hand and moved instinctiv

t is all. She must learn to get over this folly.' Then he listened again, and the shrieks

nd he and the dusky servant looked at each other with eyes in which there was a strange lik

where he had left it; the second was a live python, its comrade apparently, slow

nt, before he fled screaming from the house, saw his master fling himself upon the living serpent and grasp it with his hands, and wh

t on the deck of the steamer, returning from Bombay. He did not spare himself. He told me the story, much as I have told it to you

th a slight accent of surpri