observed. "Now
is the time, as I just remarked to Tina a minute ago, to prove the
unfailing support of a knowledge of Latin and of the poet Horace. _AEquam
memento_--"

"I'm afraid, doctor, I haven't time for Horace," I returned, ruthlessly
cutting short his enjoyment, while the sonorous sentence still rolled in
his mouth; "but I've attended to this affair of the mortgage, and you
shan't be bothered again. Why on earth didn't you come to me sooner
about it?"

Bending over, he plucked a rosebud with a canker at the heart, and stood
meditatively surveying it. "An Anna von Diesbach," he observed, "and
when perfect a most beautiful rose. The truth was, my boy, that I felt a
delicacy about approaching my friends in the hour of my misfortunes. Old
George I did go to in my extremity, but I fear, Ben,--I seriously fear
that I have estranged old George by making him a present of a little box
of ants. He imagines, I fancy, that I intended a reflection upon his
intelligence. Because the ant is small, he concludes, unreasonably, that
it is unworthy. On the contrary, as I endeavoured to convince him, it
possesses a degree of sagacity and foresight the human being might well
envy--"

"I can't stop now, doctor, I'm in too great a rush, but remember, if you
ever have a few hundred dollars you'd like me to turn over for you, I'm
at your service. At all events, preserve your calm soul and leave me to
contend with your difficulties--"

"The word 'preserve,'" commented the doctor, "though used in a different
and less practical sense, reminds me of Tina. She has sacrificed her
peace of mind to preserves, as I told her this morning. Even I should
find it impossible to maintain an equable character, if I lived in the
atmosphere of a stove and devoted my energies to a kettle. One's
occupation has, without doubt, a marked influence upon one's attitude
towards the universe. This was in my thoughts entirely when I suggested
to a man of old George's headstrong and undisciplined nature that he
would do well to investigate the habits of a sober and industrious
insect like the ant. He has led an improvident life, and I thought that
as he neared his end, whatever would promote a philosophic cast of mind
would inevitably benefit his declining years--"

"He doesn't like to be reminded that they are declining, doctor, that's
the trouble," I returned, as I shook hands hurriedly, and went on down
the gravelled walk between the oyster shells to the ga