Curious! twenty-four hours ago I thought it all done with--dead and done with.

'So like Provvy,' as Bentham used to say, when he heard of anything particularly unseemly in the way of natural catastrophe.

Now to dine, and be off! How little sleep can I do with in the next fortnight ?" He rang, ordered his cab, and then went to the coffee-room for some hasty food.

As he was passing one of the small tables with which the room was filled, a man who was dining there with a friend recognised him and gave him a cold nod.

Wharton walked on to the further end of the room, and, while waiting for his meal, buried himself in the local evening paper, which already contained a report of his speech.
"Did you see that man ?" asked the stranger of his friend.
"The small young fellow with the curly hair ?" "Small young fellow, indeed! He is the wiriest athlete I know--extraordinary physical strength for his size--and one of the cleverest rascals out as a politician.