174 THE ELECTRIC LIGHT. 



When they arrived at the hotel, arid had gone through 

 the preliminary ceremony of entering their names and en- 

 gaging lodgings, they were shown to their rooms, and there 

 the first thing that John did was to draw up a table near 

 a window and take out his writing materials. 



" The first tiling that I am going to do," said he, " is to 

 get my hour of study oiF my mind, then I can go out and 

 see the city entirely at my ease." 



This he did. While he was thus engaged, Lawrence 

 went down and waited for him in the splendid reading- 

 room below. The reading-room was much larger and more 

 magnificent, but not so cosy and snug as the one at Folke- 

 stone. At the end of the hour John came down, and he 

 and Lawrence went out into the grand court-yard, and 

 thence by an elegant passage, with a roadway in the mid- 

 dle, and a sidewalk separated from the roadway by col- 

 umns on each side, into the street. John almost leaped for 

 joy at the sight of the scene of gayety and splendor which 

 here met his eye. 



" Lawrence," said he, " I'm glad my study is done, and I 

 think your rule of ' duty first and pleasure afterward ' is 

 excellent philosophy." 



