lity to be interested in animal stories.
Adam, who had managed to settle his back dues and delinquent
house-charges, and once more acquired the privileges of the club, nodded
his head gratefully at Mr. Barnum.

"I'm glad to find some one," said he, "who places the responsibility for
trouble where it belongs. I'm round-shouldered with the blame I've had
to bear. I didn't invent sin any more than I invented the telephone, and
I think it's rather rough on a fellow who lived a quiet, retiring,
pastoral life, minding his own business and staying home nights, to be
held up to public reprobation for as long a time as I have."

"It'll be all right in time," said Raleigh; "just wait--be patient, and
your vindication will come. Nobody thought much of the plays Bacon and I
wrote for Shakespeare until Shakespeare 'd been dead a century."

"Humph!" said Adam, gloomily. "Wait! What have I been doing all this
time? I've waited all the time there's been so far, and until Mr. Barnum
spoke as he did I haven't observed the slightest inclination on the part
of anybody to rehabilitate my lost reputation. Nor do I see exactly how
it's to come about even if I do wait."

"You might apply for an investigating committee to look into the
charges," suggested an American politician, just over. "Get your friends
on it, and you'll be all right."

"Better let sleeping dogs lie," said Blackstone.

"I intend to," said Adam. "The fact is, I hate to give any further
publicity to the matter. Even if I did bring the case into court and sue
for libel, I've only got one witness to prove my innocence, and that's my
wife. I'm not going to drag her into it. She's got nervous prostration
over her position as it is, and this would make it worse. Queen
Elizabeth and the rest of these snobs in society won't invite her to any
of their functions because they say she hadn't any grandfather; and even
if she were received by them, she'd be uncomfortable going about. It
isn't pleasant for a woman to feel that every one knows she's the oldest
woman in the room."

"Well, take my word for it," said Raleigh, kindly. "It'll all come out
all right. You know the old saying, 'History repeats itself.' Some day
you will be living back in Eden again, and if you are only careful to
make an exact record of all you do, and have a notary present, before
whom you can make an affidavit as to the facts, you will be able to
demonstrate your innocence."

"I was only