ver and will succeed, but what he
had said was this, he may be a fool or he may be clever, we will see
what the publishers say. And this attitude of mind, which repeated
itself in different forms in half the men one meets, is fascinatingly
incomprehensible to me. If I have the opportunity of seeing a man or
testing a ring, what do I care, what does it matter to me, whether he
is successful or unsuccessful, whether the ring is hall-marked or not!
I have my own eyes, ears, and intelligence at command. What more do I
want? Give me the man or the metal: in a very short time I have decided
their worth to my own satisfaction. I may be wrong in my estimate, of
course, but that is another matter.

If my brain is in a healthy state, I can do more avoid its forming an
exact, personal opinion of the man, and a computation of his powers,
than I can avoid my eye spontaneously taking his shape and muscles into
its vision. In their natural, unimpaired state, neither organ should
need artificial aid. But my father was looking at me now through the
mental spectacles of my success, which made to him hugely big that
merit which, before, he could not see at all. Thanks to those
spectacles, an easy indulgence was granted me. Little that I could do
now was wrong. Another man had thought fit to pay me for my powers.
That elevated me in his estimation as the powers themselves never had
done. He had no longer any wish apparently to oppose me. Since my
brains were now authenticated by the seal of a publisher, he was
sufficiently satisfied that they might be trusted to decide my own life
and conduct. However, besides all this, he was strictly a man of his
word, and having promised that, with my success, all opposition to my
marriage would cease, he kept his conditions, as I had kept mine.

"I am very sorry to be so late," I said, as we drew our chairs to the
table. "I am afraid you have waited for me."

"My dear boy, a few minutes are of no consequence!"

"I had rather a stiff headache last night, and only got to sleep when
it was nearly time to get up. I hope I didn't wake you coming home last
night? That idiot Walters must needs turn out the gas and go to sleep
in the hall. Of course I kicked him over. Did it disturb you?"

"I should think it was calculated to disturb Walters more than me!" he
returned. "No; I didn't hear you. Were you late? Will you have sole or
bacon?"

"Sole, please," I said. "Yes; Dick and I walked back from Lucia's