t was the hour after
lighting up and before the drawing of blinds and curtains. Mr. Prohack
had glimpses of enormous and magnificent interiors,--some right in the
sky, some on the ground--with carved ceilings, rich candelabra, heavily
framed pictures, mighty furniture, statuary, and superb and nonchalant
menials engaged in the pleasant task of shutting away those interiors
from the vulgar gaze. The spectacle continued furlong upon furlong,
monotonously. There was no end to the succession of palaces of the
wealthy. Then it would be interrupted while Mr. Prohack crossed a main
thoroughfare, where scores of young women struggled against a few men
for places in glittering motor-buses that were already packed with
successful fighters for room in them. And then it would be resumed again
in its majesty.

The sight of the street-travellers took Mr. Prohack's mind back to
Insott. He felt a passionate sympathy for the Insotts of the world, and
also for the Prohacks of six hours earlier. Once Mr. Prohack had been in
easier circumstances; but those circumstances, thanks to the ambitions
of statesmen and generals, and to the simplicity of publics, had
gradually changed from easy to distressed. He saw with terrible
clearness from what fate the Angmering miracle had saved him and his. He
wanted to reconstruct society in the interest of those to whom no
miracle had happened. He wanted to do away with all excessive wealth;
and by "excessive" he meant any degree of wealth beyond what would be
needed for the perfect comfort of himself, Mr. Prohack,--a reasonable
man if ever there was one! Ought he not to devote his fortune to the
great cause of reconstructing society? Could he enjoy his fortune while
society remain unreconstructed? Well, societies were not to be
reconstructed by the devoting of fortunes to the work. Moreover, if he
followed such an extreme course he would be regarded as a crank, and he
could not have borne to be regarded as a crank. He detested cranks more
than murderers or even profiteers. As for enjoying his fortune in
present circumstances, he thought that he might succeed in doing so, and
that anyhow it was his duty to try. He was regrettably inconsistent.

II

Having entered his house as it were surreptitiously, and avoided his
children, Mr. Prohack peeped through the half-open door between the
conjugal bedroom and the small adjoining room, which should Lave been a
dressing-room, but which Mrs. Prohack style