'
'But,' said I, 'how do you know that it was the king of the vipers?'
'How do I know?' said the old man, 'who else should it be? There was as
much difference between it and other reptiles as between King George and
other people.'
'Is King George, then, different from other people?' I demanded.
'Of course,' said the old man; 'I have never seen him myself, but I have
heard people say that he is a ten times greater man than other folks;
indeed, it stands to reason that he must be different from the rest, else
people would not be so eager to see him. Do you think, child, that
people would be fools enough to run a matter of twenty or thirty miles to
see the king, provided King George--'
* * * * *
I sat upon the bank, at the bottom of the hill which slopes down from
'the Earl's Home'; my float was on the waters, and my back was towards
the old hall. I drew up many fish, small and great, which I took from
off the hook mechanically and flung upon the bank, for I was almost
unconscious of what I was about, for my mind was not with my fish. I was
thinking of my earlier years--of the Scottish crags and the heaths of
Ireland--and sometimes my mind would dwell on my studies--on the sonorous
stanzas of Dante, rising and falling like the waves of the sea--or would
strive to remember a couplet or two of poor Monsieur Boileau.
'Canst thou answer to thy conscience for pulling all those fish out of
the water, and leaving them to gasp in the sun?' said a voice, clear and
sonorous as a bell.
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