"One day by chance the explanation came. His eldest daughter was
preparing her home studies after dinner.

"'What time is it now in New York?' she asked, looking up from her
geography book.

"'New York,' said her father, glancing at his watch, 'let me see. It's
just ten now, and there's a little over four and a half hours'
difference. Oh, about half-past five in the afternoon.'

"'Then in Jefferson,' said the mother, 'it would be still earlier,
wouldn't it?'

"'Yes,' replied the girl, examining the map, 'Jefferson is nearly two
degrees further west.'

"'Two degrees,' mused the father, 'and there's forty minutes to a degree.
That would make it now, at the present moment in Jefferson--'

"He leaped to his feet with a cry:

"'I've got it!' he shouted, 'I see it.'

"'See what?' asked his wife, alarmed.

"'Why, it's four o'clock in Jefferson, and just time for my ride. That's
what I'm wanting.'

"There could be no doubt about it. For five-and-twenty years he had
lived by clockwork. But it was by Jefferson clockwork, not London
clockwork. He had changed his longitude, but not himself. The habits of
a quarter of a century were not to be shifted at the bidding of the sun.

"He examined the problem in all its bearings, and decided that the only
solution was for him to return to the order of his old life. He saw the
difficulties in his way, but they were less than those he was at present
encountering. He was too formed by habit to adapt himself to
circumstances. Circumstances must adapt themselves to him.

"He fixed his office hours from three till ten, leaving himself at half-
past nine. At ten he mounted his horse and went for a canter in the Row,
and on very dark nights he carried a lantern. News of it got abroad, and
crowds would assemble to see him ride past.

"He dined at one o'clock in the morning, and afterwards strolled down to
his club. He had tried to discover a quiet, respectable club where the
members were willing to play whist till four in the morning, but failing,
had been compelled to join a small Soho gambling-hell, where they taught
him poker. The place was occasionally raided by the police, but thanks
to his respectable appearance, he generally managed to escape.

"At half-past four he returned home, and woke up the family for evening
prayers. At five he went to bed and slept like a top.

"The City chaffed him, and Bayswater shook its head over him, but that he
did not mind.