OCTOBER 241 



Lady of the Net, or anticipate the hideous drama of which 

 that gloomy corner was about to be the scene. On the 

 morning following that on which he first noticed the web, 

 he observed that its architect, as he had expected, had 

 caught no flies ; but apparently she possessed some secret 

 power of attraction, such as Armida wove into her girdle, 

 for, as he watched, he beheld a stranger spider approach 

 — knight-errant and suitor for the lady's aifections. She 

 received him graciously. There followed in due course — 



' Of mild delays, of tender scorn, of sweet 

 Repulses, war, peace, hope, despair, joy, fear ; 

 Of smiles, jests, mirth, woe, grief, and sad regret ; 

 Sighs, sorrows, tears, embracements, kisses dear. 

 That, mixed first by weight and measures meet, 

 Then, at an easy fire, attemper'd were.' 



Happy lover ! nor less credulous than others of his kind. 

 Well for him if he had laid to heart (a spider's heart is 

 a much more obvious organ than his brain) some of the 

 innumerable lessons of the fickleness of the sex. Instead 

 of lingering in dalUance, ogHng the adored object with 

 his eight foolish eyes, he would have departed straight 

 away upon his proper business of fly-catching. But he felt 

 secure; he knew of no returning husband to hasten his 

 departure, so he loitered on in the scene of his brief 



joys. 



Presently the lady's mood changed; the languor left 

 her lids (or would have done if there had been any lids), 

 a lurid light glowed in her orbs, the lover started from 

 her in terror; too late — with the swiftness and violence 

 of a tiger she sprang upon him, fixed her sharp fangs in 

 his throat, and poured in the numbing poison stored at 

 their roots. After a few futile struggles, the luckless 



Q 



