y
the society of a friend or two, he is secure against interruption. It is
not so in a house, not by any means; there is not the same protection in
a house, even in the best-contrived house. The servant is bound to
answer the door; he must appear and give some excuse: he may betray, by
hesitation and confusion, that he utters a falsehood; he must expose
himself to be questioned; he must open the door and violate your privacy
in some degree; besides there are other doors, there are windows at
least, through which a prying eye can detect some indication that
betrays the mystery. How different is it here! The bore arrives; the
outer door is shut; it is black and solid, and perfectly impenetrable,
as is your secret; the doors are all alike; he can distinguish mine from
yours by the geographical position only. He may knock; he may call; he
may kick if he will; he may inquire of a neighbour, but he can inform
him of nothing; he can only say, the door is shut, and this he knows
already. He may leave his card, that you may rejoice over it and at your
escape; he may write upon it the hour when he proposes to call again, to
put you upon your guard, and that he may be quite sure of seeing the
back of your door once more. When the bore meets you and says, I called
at your house at such a time, you are required to explain your absence,
to prove an _alibi_ in short, and perhaps to undergo a rigid
cross-examination; but if he tells you, 'I called at your rooms
yesterday at three and the door was shut,' you have only to say, 'Did
you? was it?' and there the matter ends.

"Were you not charmed with your oak? did it not instantly captivate
you!"

"My introduction to it was somewhat unpleasant and unpropitious. The
morning after my arrival I was sitting at breakfast: my scout, the
Arimaspian, apprehending that the singleness of his eye may impeach his
character for officiousness, in order to escape the reproach of seeing
half as much only as other men, is always striving to prove that he sees
at least twice as far as the most sharpsighted: after many
demonstrations of superabundant activity, he inquired if I wanted
anything more; I answered in the negative. He had already opened the
door: 'Shall I sport, Sir?' he asked briskly as he stood upon the
threshold. He seemed so unlike a sporting character, that I was curious
to learn in what sport he proposed to indulge. I answered--'Yes, by all
means,' and anxiously watched him, but to my sur