226 ALWAYS IN SUSPENSE. 
Its miserable condition of passive expectancy fully explains its 
character. To wait, while acting, running, 
fighting, is to cheat both time and hunger ; 
but to remain there immovable, to be unable 
to stir from fear of alarming your prey, to 
watch it coming nearer and nearer but 
eventually escaping, and to suffer from an 
empty stomach! To be a witness of the 
endless, heedless dances of the fly, which, 
in the sunbeam, amuses and balances itself 
for hours without responding to the avid 
prayers of the tempter which whispers, 
“Come, little one! Come, my darling!” is 
a terrible punishment, a series of hopes and 
disappointments. 
It pursues its gay measure, and thinks 
nothing of the sufferer. 
The fatal inquiry, “Shall I dine?” re- 
turns, and lacerates its bowels. Then comes 
the more ominous reflection: “If I do not 
dine to-day, no more thread! And far less, 
then, may I hope to dine to-morrow!” 
From all this results a suffering, restless, 
but prodigiously wary and attentive being, 
which detects not only the slightest con- 
tact, but the slightest noise. The spider is 
only too sensitive. A very little disturb- 
ance seems to overthrow its self-control. It 
apparently faints; you see it suddenly fall 
from its position, struck down by fear. 
This sensitiveness, as you will readily 
believe, is especially displayed in the 
spider's maternal condition. However 
raiserable and avaricious in its nature, it is tender, liberal, and generous 
