tica means. When I was your age, I could have slept upon a
board and risen therefrom refreshed. At fifty it is otherwise. We study
the barometer then and dust before we sit. This great glass house is Mr.
Gessner's winter temple. It is here that he plans and conceives so many
of those vast schemes by which the world is astonished."

Alban looked at him curiously.

"Is the world really astonished by rich men?" he asked.

Mr. Geary stood still in amazement at the question.

"Rank and birth rule the nation," he declared vehemently; "it is fit and
proper that it should be so. Our aristocracy is rightly recruited from
those who have accumulated the wealth necessary to such a position.
Riches, Kennedy, mean power. You will know that some day when you are
the master of riches."

Alban walked on a little way without saying anything. Then almost as one
compelled to reply he exclaimed:

"In the East End, they don't speak of money like that. I suppose it is
their ignorance--and after all it is a very great thing to be able to
compel other people to starve for you. Some day, I'll take you down to
the sweating-shops, Mr. Geary. You'll see a lot of old china there, but
I don't think it would be worth much. And all our flowers are for
sale--poor devils, we get little enough for supper if we don't sell
them."

The curate expressed no profound desire to accept this promising
invitation, and desiring to change so thorny a subject entered a
delightful old-world garden and invited Alban's attention to a superb
view of Harrow and the Welsh Harp. In the hall, to which at last they
returned, he spoke of that more substantial reality, dinner.

"I am sorry to say that I have a Dorcas meeting to-night and cannot
possibly dine with you," he explained to the astonished lad. "I shall
return at nine o'clock, however, to see that all is as Mr. Gessner
wishes. The servants have told you, perhaps, that Miss Anna is in the
country and does not return until to-morrow. This old house is very dull
without her, Kennedy. It is astonishing how much difference a pretty
face makes to any house."

"Is that Miss Anna's portrait over the fireplace, sir?"

"You know her, Kennedy?"

"I have seen her once, on the balcony of a house in St. James' Square.
That was last night when I was on my way to sleep in a cellar."

"My poor, poor boy, and to-night you will sleep in one of the most
beautiful rooms in England. How wonderful is fortune, how
amazing--er--