r, so that they will not dare refuse me the market-value of
my antics. And Sarah Drew has declined an alliance such as this in
favor of a fresh-colored complexion and a pair of straight shoulders!"

Pope thought a while. "And a clean heart! She bargained royally,
giving love for nothing less than love. The man is rustic, illiterate;
he never heard of Aristotle, he would be at a loss to distinguish
between a trochee and a Titian, and if you mentioned Boileau to him
would probably imagine you were talking of cookery. But he loves her.
He would forfeit eternity to save her a toothache. And, chief of all,
she can make this robust baby happy, and she alone can make him happy.
And so, she gives, gives royally--she gives, God bless her!"

Rain, sullen rain, was battering the window. "And you--you hunchback
in the mirror, you maker of neat rhymes--pray, what had you to offer?
A coach-and-six, of course, and pin-money and furbelows and in the end
a mausoleum with unimpeachable Latin on it! And--_pate sur pate_--an
unswerving devotion which she would share on almost equal terms with
the Collected Works of Alexander Pope. And so she chose--chose brawn
and a clean heart."

The dwarf turned, staggered, fell upon his bed. "God, make a man of
me, make me a good brave man. I loved her--oh, such as I am, You know
that I loved her! You know that I desire her happiness above all
things. Ah, no, for You know that I do not at bottom. I want to hurt,
to wound all living creatures, because they know how to be happy, and I
do not know how. Ah, God, and why did You decree that I should never
be an obtuse and comely animal such as this John Hughes is? I am so
tired of being 'the great Mr. Pope,' and I want only the common joys of
life."

The hunchback wept. It would be too curious to anatomize the writhings
of his proud little spirit.

Now some one tapped upon the door. It was John Gay. He was bidden to
enter, and, complying, found Mr. Pope yawning over the latest of
Tonson's publications.

Gay's face was singularly portentous. "My friend," Gay blurted out, "I
bring news which will horrify you. Believe me, I would never have
mustered the pluck to bring it did I not love you. I cannot let you
hear it first in public and unprepared, as, otherwise, you would have
to do."

"Do I not know you have the kindest heart in all the world? Why, so
outrageous are your amiable defects that they would be the public
derision of