Part 68 (2/2)

”I was only askin' him where he hen the fire broke out,” protested So; then in a louder voice he repeated his question

”Dunno Soman hopelessly ”Anyhow, I never done it Well, then, I'd jist got well started to work on Monday rabs o,' says the ot 'S'pose so,' says I 'Better takewith me anyhow'

Course, by the tis was at the slackest; an' I could n't go straight back to a decent place, an' o back to that district no en the very man I'd ratherest man paused, and slowly turned toward me, in evident trouble of ed for stack-burnin'?”

And the poor fellow's flickering eyes sought ly

”Indeed he did n't,yourself!” exclaimed Dave triueneral turn

By this tinition of the man With the circumspection of a seasoned speculatist, I had bracketed two independent hypotheses, either of which would supply a satisfactory solution One of these simply attributed the whole matter to unconscious cerebration But here a question arose: If one half of my brain had been more alert than its duplicate when the object first presented itself--so that the observation of the vigilant half instantaneously appeared as an intangible ment of the apathetic half--it still reht be said to be in a normal condition Was one half unduly and wastefully excited?--or was the other half unhealthily dor would have to be seen into, at so time

But this hypothesis of unconscious cerebration see at a former time heard Terrible Tommy mention the nay, rising to the very ach unconsciously, snap-shotted a corresponding apparition on the retina of athered fros's pro myself, as would have merely tended to unfathomable speculations on meteh crushi+ng for a couple of ounces, was one of your practical, decided, cocksure overned by conviction alone--the latter being based sih solidly, upon itself These men are deaf to the symphony of the Silences; blind to the horizonless areas of the Unknown; unresponsive to the touch of the Impalpable; oblivious to the machinery of the Moral Universe--in a word, indifferent to theSoul In such entially from the central Truth, acquires an independent and stubborn orbit of its own But the Absolute Truth is so large, and huether, however eccentric its course reater chance of its being sed up by the scorching Truth, on its return trip In the present instance, my own ready co-operation with a islation had been sufficient unto the deflection of To collision take thought for itself, particularly as Mrs Beaudesart's conjunction was just about falling due Then I rose to go

”Here, lasses, and handing thee of these”

There was no trace of recognition in Toratitude as his eyes rested onout for the tracks of that miserable impostor from the braes o' Yarra

Now I had to enact the Cynic philosopher to Moriarty and Butler, and the aristocratic man with a 'past' to Mrs Beaudesart; with the satisfaction of knowing that each of these was acting a part to me

Such is life, my fellow-mummers--just like a poor player, that bluffs and feints his hour upon the stage, and then cheapens down to mere nonentity

But let me not hear any small witticism to the further effect that its story is a tale told by a vulgarian, full of slang and blanky, signifying--nothing

THE END