II 



THE INVIOLABLE SHADE 



Still nursing the unconquerable hope, 

 Still clutching the inviolable shade . . . 



I HAVE a dim memory of having read some- 

 where that Matthew Arnold was a fisher- 

 man in his lighter moments. Whether that 

 be so or not, he could not have turned two 

 lines more aptly to my purpose. For three 

 full weeks have I been nursing the uncon- 

 querable hope ; for three full weeks have I 

 been clutching the inviolable shade ; and 

 now I hereby retract all that I have said 

 upon the subject, and make solemn recanta- 

 tion of my heresies. Three short weeks 

 ago I was to be numbered among the 

 umber's friends and apologists. I knew 

 comparatively little of him, it is true, but 

 that little was certainly to his advantage. 

 The thought of him carried me back to the 



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