e scornfully.

"Similarity of tastes and thought."

"And, I suppose, no one down here is clever enough for you?"

"I hope I'm not such an intolerable prig as to have implied that. But,
frankly, I expect that you and I, for instance, would not take the same
view on any subject; and, very likely, the things that interest me
would bore you to extinction."

"It would bore me pretty considerably if you persisted in urging that
the whole world should be reduced to one level of ugly uniformity,
which is what you are credited with believing."

"A free interpretation of a hope, on my part, to lessen the cruel gulf
between the very rich and the very poor," replied Paul, quietly. "I
confess, the frightful extravagance of the wealthier classes makes me
sick at heart; for one section of society nothing but amusement and
pleasure, and the lavish spending of money; and for the larger half the
weary effort to make both ends meet--and for many quiet, hopeless
starvation."

"You are talking something like the rector; only he enlists my sympathy
more by speaking less severely--and he is more just too. He does not
talk as if it were wicked to be better off than your neighbour; he only
makes you feel the responsibility of it."

Paul gave rather a hard little laugh.

"To speak plainly, he dresses it up a little--gives it the clerical
dash of sentiment. Besides, what is the good of stirring one here and
there to give out of his abundance something of which he will never
feel the loss, with the comfortable sense left behind that he or she
has done something very big indeed. What one would strive for, rather,
is to stir up the nation to its duties, to rouse Government to redress
some of these glaring social grievances."

"Oh, pray keep yourself in hand! level your intellect down to mine!"
cried May, with a burst of laughter. "As far as I follow you, you wish
to lower my dress allowance by act of parliament. I sincerely trust
you will fail. By the way you may set your mind at rest about my
dressmaker; her bill is paid, and all my other outstanding accounts
too. With your rather eccentric views about property, it will annoy
you considerably to hear that I have had a fortune left me; so that I
may not be in debt again for some considerable time."

"To her that hath," said Paul, with a glance at the elegantly clad
figure. "It really seems to me as if you could not want it, and I need
it so much."

"You!" echoed May. "For re