With a slightly increased colour my father rose to his feet. “I have no doubt of it,” he said. “But at the same time—at the same time—oh, Augustus, Augustus!” Deeply moved, he advanced two or three paces and leaned heavily against the harmonium. “You see, my boy,” he continued—at what a cost I could only afterwards guess “with this interview you will be definitely entering upon a new and most perilous phase of experience. For the first time—I must ask you to turn down the lamp—for the first time, as a marriageable adult, you will be called upon to encounter, face to face, a woman of fierce and unbridled passions.” Here he paused for a moment and I could feel the floor shaking. “Oh, father,” I cried. “Can I not spare you?” “No, no,” he said. “I must see it through.” I bent forward to steady the lamp, and at the same time I turned it lower. “Mind the wick,” he said. “Oh, father,” I cried, “do you mean that she may want to kiss me?” “Oh, Augustus,” he said, “or even more.” “Oh, father,” I cried. “Is there anything more?” He swallowed once or twice. “Oh, Augustus,” he said. * * * * * I fear this chapter must remain unfinished. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CHAPTER IX Effect upon my father of his disclosure. My Xtian confidence in journeying to Enfield. Paternoster Towers and its mistress. Unfortunate detachment of my posterior trouser-buttons. Triumphant success of my interview. A kindly parlourmaid and her male friend. I secure a position under Mr. Chrysostom Lorton. Melancholy death of Silas Whey. PROFOUNDLY, and indeed permanently, as it had shaken him—when I turned up the lamp again my father was an old man—I cannot say that the substance of his communication was entirely unfamiliar to me, or that I had not been aware, to a certain extent, of a new significance attaching to my person. Appreciably over five feet in height, with a pectoral girth of twenty-six inches, my abdominal measurement (fully clothed of course) was but little less than a yard, and for some time I had been unable to help noticing that I was not unattractive to the opposite sex. I had in fact deemed it advisable to inform Emily Smith, who, as I have said, was somewhat my senior, that while I was still agreeable to remain her companion, there could be no question between us of ultimate matrimony; and I had several times discussed with Simeon and Silas Whey the qualities to be demanded from a possible wife.