Part 5 (1/2)

The other laughed abstractedly.

”What wholesome truths you deliver,” he said. ”I think Luther must have had your manner. Well, if I were in your place, I should probably say the same, though less forcibly. But they are theories. You see, I argue this way: with one man's mind and one man's power of work, I could never accomplish what I have before me--any more than poor Buckle, with the brain of a giant, could accomplish what he undertook. It is too big for a single man in this stage of development. So, with one man's mind, I intend to do six men's amount of labor. If I hold out, I will have my reward; if I go to pieces, I shall at least have the satisfaction of a good fight.”

His voice was distinct and forcible, with a widely varied range of expression.

There was a second tap at the door, and Mr. Nevins entered, looking depressed and ill-humored.

”h.e.l.lo, Anthony!” he called. ”What! is Mr. Paul squandering your midnight oil? You should have sent him to bed long ago.”

”It is not my hour for retiring,” responded Mr. Paul.

Anthony interrupted pacifically.

”Mr. Paul is exhorting me,” he said, ”and I have no doubt that, with slight modifications, his sermon may be adapted to your case. He predicts brain-softening and general senility.”

”An inspired prophecy,” returned Mr. Nevins, crossly, ”and savoring of Jeremiah. As for myself, it is but common justice that a man who has conscientiously refused the cultivation of the mind should not be called upon to lose what he doesn't possess.” Then he grew suddenly cheerful.

”Confound it! What's the use of being a philosopher on paper when you can be one in practice. What's the use of dying when you can eat, drink, and be merry?”

”Eating,” remarked Mr. Paul, with depressing effect, ”produces dyspepsia, drinking produces gout.”

”And thought, paresis,” added Anthony, lightly. ”They are all merely different forms of dissipation. I have chosen mine; Nevins has chosen his. Only, as a matter of taste, I'd rather die by work than wine.

Personally, I prefer consumption to apoplexy.”

”There is such a thing as the means justifying the end,” responded Mr.

Nevins, in reckless ill-humor. ”And it is a great principle. If I wasn't a fool, I'd make a bonfire of my brush and palette, and start afresh on a level with my appet.i.te. I would become the apostle of good-living, which means fast living. I tell you, an hour of downright devilment is worth all the art since Adam. Aristippus is greater than Raphael.”

”What has gone wrong?” demanded Algarcife, soothingly. ”Too much purple in the 'Andromeda'? I always said that purple was the imperial color of his satanic majesty. If you had followed the orthodox art of your college days, and hadn't gone wandering after strange G.o.ds, you might have escaped a dash of that purple melancholia.”

”You're a proper fellow,” returned Mr. Nevins, with disgust. ”Who was it that won that last debate in '82 by a glowing defence of Christianity against agnosticism, and, when the Reverend Miles lit out about the new orator in his flock, floored him with: 'Was that good? Then what a magnificent thing I could have made of the other side!'”

Mr. Paul had opened his book, and glanced up with candid lack of interest. Anthony laughed languidly.

”I saw Miles some weeks ago,” he said, ”and he is still talking about my 'defection,' as he calls it. I couldn't convince him that I was merely the counsel for a weak case, and that I was always an agnostic at heart.”

Mr. Nevins lighted a cigar in silence. Then he nodded abruptly towards the wall. ”What's that noise?” he demanded, irritably.

”That,” replied Algarcife, ”is a fiend in woman's form, who makes night hideous. I can't begin to work until she sings herself hoa.r.s.e, and she doesn't do that until midnight. Verily, she is possessed of seven devils, and singing devils at that.”

Mr. Nevins was listening attentively. His irritability had vanished.

”Why, it's Mariana!” he exclaimed. ”Bless her pretty throat! An hour of Mariana is worth all the spoken or unspoken thoughts of--of Marcus Aurelius, to say nothing of Solomon.”

Mr. Paul closed his book and looked up gravely. ”A worthy young woman,”

he observed, ”though a trifle fast. As for Solomon, his wisdom has been greatly exaggerated.”

”Fast!” protested Mr. Nevins. ”She's as fast as--as Mr. Paul--”

”Your insinuation is absurd,” returned Mr. Paul, stiffly. But Mr. Nevins was not to be suppressed.

”Then don't display your ignorance of such matters. As for this St.