i90 MISS BADSWORTH, M.F.H. 



momentary silence, watching the glass quivering in his 

 shaking hand which was raised half-way to his lips. 



Yes, it did shake, and had done so for some considerable 

 time ; perhaps he had not noticed it ; we become familiar 

 with ills that come upon us gradually till we fail to observe 

 the increase of their power ; the fact was borne in upon him 

 now. 



" I'm not sure you aren't right, Mrs. Barlow," he said in 

 the undecided tone of a person who is weighing a difficulty 

 beyond the actual radius of the conversation. 



Bickersdyke could recollect the days when his art was his 

 delight, when he had visions of rising to the highest emi- 

 nence to be attained by skill and labour; then came the 

 disappointments, and instead of meeting them like a man, 

 he had sought to drown them by means of an ally that had 

 gradually become his tyrant — the octopus which had twined 

 its tentacles around him. Now it was only by an increasing 

 libation that he could woo the goddess of energy at all. If 

 years ago he had only had what had fallen to his lot now, he 



would have Why couldn't the members of his family 



have taken him up and given him a helping hand ? They 

 had not done so ; it was their fault ; now at last he had 

 come out on top, and remembering the past, would listen 

 to no compromise if it were proposed. He was only half 

 a Badsworth, perhaps not that ; he was, in fact, as weak as 

 his father had been before him. 



** I'm not sure you aren't right, Mrs. Barlow," he re- 

 peated, as though nearly five minutes had not elapsed 

 since he made the remark previously. '* I'm going to turn 

 over a new leaf; this will be my last evening here. It 

 would be a pity if I didn't make them all sit up." 



The " all " comprised the members of the Badsworth 

 family. 



** I don't believe the Squire or Miss Lavvy ever hurt any- 

 body in their lives, or ever would," Mrs. Barlow said, when 

 Bickersdyke had reviewed the hardships of his lot by means 

 of a circuitous train of argument. 



