Ernest observed, inwardly pleased.

“No,” the older man subtly remarked, “but they reach the same conclusion by a different route.”

“And you attach serious importance to our fancy?”

“Why not?”

Clarke was gazing abstractedly at the bust of Balzac.

“A man’s genius is commensurate with his ability of absorbing from life the elements essential to his artistic completion. Balzac possessed this power in a remarkable degree. But, strange to say, it was evil that attracted him most. He absorbed it as a sponge absorbs water; perhaps because there was so little of it in his own make-up. He must have purified the atmosphere around him for miles, by bringing all the evil that was floating in the air or slumbering in men’s