To Bernal's mind, indeed, nothing could have been superior to the noble melancholy with which Cousin Bill J.looked back upon his splendid past.

There was a perfect dignity in it.

Surely no mere electric belt could bring to him an attraction surpassing this--though Cousin Bill J.insisted that he never expected any real improvement until he could save up enough money to buy one.

He showed the little boy a picture cut from a newspaper--the picture of a strong, proud-looking man with plenteous black whiskers, girded about with a wide belt that was projecting a great volume of electricity into the air in every direction.
It was interesting enough, but the little boy thought this person by no means so beautiful as Cousin Bill J., and said so.

He believed, too, though this he did not say, from tactful motives, that it would detract from the dignity of Cousin Bill J.to go about clad only in an electric belt, like the proud-looking gentleman in the picture--even if the belt did send out a lot of electric wiggles all the time.