phenomenon; and all phenomena, however
magnificent, are surely fair subjects for experiment. Magendie may
have gone too far, certainly, in dissecting a live dog--but what
harm in my pulling the mane of a dead lion?'

So he showed the letter to Tregarva as they were fishing together
one day--for Lancelot had been installed duly in the Whitford trout
preserves'--Tregarva read it slowly; asked, shrewdly enough, the
meaning of a word or two as he went on; at last folded it up
deliberately, and returned it to its owner with a deep sigh.
Lancelot said nothing for a few minutes; but the giant seemed so
little inclined to open the conversation, that he was forced at last
to ask him what he thought of it.

'It isn't a matter for thinking, sir, to my mind--There's a nice
fish on the feed there, just over-right that alder.'

'Hang the fish! Why not a matter for thinking?'

'To my mind, sir, a man may think a deal too much about many matters
that come in his way.'

'What should he do with them, then?'

'Mind his own business.'

'Pleasant for those whom they concern!--That's rather a cold-blooded
speech for you, Tregarva!'

The Cornishman looked up at him earnestly. His eyes were
glittering--was it with tears?

'Don't fancy I don't feel for the poor young gentleman--God help
him!--I've been through it all--or not through it, that's to say. I
had a brother once, as fine a young fellow as ever handled pick, as
kind-hearted as a woman, and as honest as the sun in Heaven.--But he
would drink, sir;--that one temptation, he never could stand it.
And one day at the shaft's mouth, reaching after the kibble-chain--
maybe he was in liquor, maybe not--the Lord knows; but--'

'I didn't know him again, sir, when we picked him up, any more than-
-' and the strong man shuddered from head to foot, and beat
impatiently on the ground with his heavy heel, as if to crush down
the rising horror.

'Where is he, sir?'

A long pause.

'Do you think I didn't ask that, sir, for years and years after, of
God, and my own soul, and heaven and earth, and the things under the
earth, too? For many a night did I go down that mine out of my
turn, and sat for hours in that level, watching and watching, if
perhaps the spirit of him might haunt about, and tell his poor
brother one word of news--one way or the other--anything would have
been a comfort--but the doubt I couldn't bear. And yet at last I
learnt to bear