y not move in the air without the aid of
some devilish agency, and it is also known that he may not send aloft
things formed of the gross materials of the earth. How, then, can
these kites fly virtuously?"

There was a general murmur of approbation of Fullbil's speech, and the
little doctor cast down his eyes and blushed again, speechless.

It was a triumph for Fullbil, and he received the congratulations of
his friends with his faint vain smile implying that it was really
nothing, you know, and that he could have done it much better if he
had thought that anybody was likely to heed it.

The little Doctor Chord was so downtrodden that for the remainder of
the evening he hardly dared to raise his eyes from the table, but I
was glad to see him apply himself industriously to the punch.

To my great alarm Fullbil now said: "Sirs, I fear we have suffered
ourselves to forget we have with us to-night a strange gentleman from
foreign parts. Your good fortune, sir," he added, bowing to me over
his glass. I bowed likewise, but I saw his little piggish eyes looking
wickedly at me. There went a titter around the board, and I understood
from it that I was the next victim of the celebrated Fullbil.

"Sir," said he, "may I ask from what part of Italy do you come?"

"I come from Ireland, sir," I answered decently.

He frowned. "Ireland is not in Italy, sir," said he. "Are you so good
as to trifle with me, sir?"

"I am not, sir," said I.

All the gentlemen murmured; some looked at me with pity, some with
contempt. I began to be frightened until I remembered that if I once
drew my sword I could chase the whole roomful of philosophy into the
next parish. I resolved to put on a bold front.

"Probably, sir," observed Fullbil, "the people of Ireland have heard
so much of me that I may expect many visits from Irish gentlemen who
wish to hear what my poor mind may develop in regard to the only true
philosophy of life?"

"Not in the least, sir," I rejoined. "Over there they don't know you
are alive, and they are not caring."

Consternation fell upon that assembly like snow from a roof. The
gentlemen stared at me. Old Fullbil turned purple at first, but his
grandeur could not be made to suffer long or seriously from my
impudence. Presently he smiled at me,--a smile confident, cruel,
deadly.

"Ireland is a great country, sir," he observed.

"'Tis not so great as many people's ignorance of it," I replied
bluntly, for I was being