PANDORA'S CHEST 371 



had a prejudice against buying openly over the 

 counter. 



Meyer has gone, having relapsed into compara- 

 tive cheerfulness a few days before his departure on 

 the receipt of a bulky letter which, in spite of the wear 

 and tear of travel, remained heavily scented, coupled 

 with Bart's assurance that he could remain in America 

 another four weeks and still be at a certain Baltic 

 town of an unpronounceable name in time for Christ- 

 mas. 



In spite of heavy frosts my pansies are a daily cheer, 

 but it is really of no use for even the flowers of very 

 hardy plants to struggle on against nature's decree of 

 a winter sleeping time; the wild animals all come 

 more or less under its spell, and the dogs, the nearest 

 creatures of all to man, as soon as snow covers the 

 ground and they have their experience of ice- cut feet, 

 drowse as near the fire as possible and in case of 

 a stove almost under it. I wonder if nature did not 

 intend that we also should have at least a half-drowsy 

 brooding time, instead of making the cold season so 

 often a period of stress and strain and short days 

 stretched into long nights. If so, we have taken the 

 responsibility of acting for ourselves, of flying in 

 nature's face in this as in many other ways. 



