' I said.

"'Neither, for the moment,' he replied, 'thank God. Half an hour ago I
was Smythe, half an hour hence I shall be Smith. For the present half-
hour I am a man.'

"There was a pleasant, hearty ring in his voice, and a genial, kindly
light in his eyes, and he held himself like a frank gentleman.

"'You are certainly an improvement upon both of them,' I said.

"He laughed a sunny laugh, with just the shadow of sadness dashed across
it. 'Do you know my idea of Heaven?' he said.

"'No,' I replied, somewhat surprised at the question.

"'Ludgate Circus,' was the answer. 'The only really satisfying moments
of my life,' he said, 'have been passed in the neighbourhood of Ludgate
Circus. I leave Piccadilly an unhealthy, unwholesome prig. At Charing
Cross I begin to feel my blood stir in my veins. From Ludgate Circus to
Cheapside I am a human thing with human feeling throbbing in my heart,
and human thought throbbing in my brain--with fancies, sympathies, and
hopes. At the Bank my mind becomes a blank. As I walk on, my senses
grow coarse and blunted; and by the time I reach Whitechapel I am a poor
little uncivilised cad. On the return journey it is the same thing
reversed.'

"'Why not live in Ludgate Circus,' I said, 'and be always as you are
now?'

"'Because,' he answered, 'man is a pendulum, and must travel his arc.'

"'My dear Mac,' said he, laying his hand upon my shoulder, 'there is only
one good thing about me, and that is a moral. Man is as God made him:
don't be so sure that you can take him to pieces and improve him. All my
life I have sought to make myself an unnaturally superior person. Nature
has retaliated by making me also an unnaturally inferior person. Nature
abhors lopsidedness. She turns out man as a whole, to be developed as a
whole. I always wonder, whenever I come across a supernaturally pious, a
supernaturally moral, a supernaturally cultured person, if they also have
a reverse self.'

"I was shocked at his suggested argument, and walked by his side for a
while without speaking. At last, feeling curious on the subject, I asked
him how his various love affairs were progressing.

"'Oh, as usual,' he replied; 'in and out of a _cul de sac_. When I am
Smythe I love Eliza, and Eliza loathes me. When I am Smith I love Edith,
and the mere sight of me makes her shudder. It is as unfortunate for
them as for me. I am not saying it boastfully. Heaven knows it is an
added draugh