STRANGER.--Poor-devil, if you ask my pockets--pockets, which are the symbols of man; Dare-devil, if you ask my heart. (_Surveying me from head to foot_)--The world seems to have smiled on you, Mr Caxton! Are you not ashamed to speak to a wretch lying on the stones?--but, to be sure, no one sees you. PISISTRATUS (_sententiously_.)--Had I lived in the last century, I might have found Samuel Johnson lying on the stones. STRANGER (_rising_.)--You have spoilt my sleep; you had a right, since you paid for the lodging. Let me walk with you a few paces; you need not fear--I do not pick pockets--yet! PISISTRATUS.--You say the world has smiled on me; I fear it has frowned on you. I don't say "courage," for you seem to have enough of that; but I say "_patience_," which is the rarer quality of the two. STRANGER.--Hem! (_Again looking at me keenly_)--Why is it that you stop to speak to me--one of whom you know nothing, or worse than nothing? PISISTRATUS.--Because I have often thought of you; because you interest me; because--pardon me--I would help you if I can--that is, if you want help. STRANGER.--Want!--I am one want! I want sleep--I want food;--I want the patience you recommend--patience to starve and rot. I have travelled from Paris to Boulogne on foot, with twelve sous in my pocket. Out of those twelve sous in my pocket I saved four; with the four I went to a billiard-room at Boulogne; I won just enough to pay my passage and buy three rolls. You see I only require capital in order to make a fortune. If with four sous I can win ten francs in a night, what could I win with a capital of four sovereigns, and in the course of a year?--that is an application of the Rule of Three which my head aches too much to calculate just at present. Well, those three rolls have lasted me three days; the last crumb went for supper last night. Therefore, take care how you offer me money, (for that is what men mean by help.) You see I have no option but to take it. But I warn you, don't expect gratitude!--I have none in me! PISISTRATUS.--You are not so bad as you paint yourself. I would do something more for you, if I can, than lend you the little I have to offer: will you be frank with me? STRANGER.--That depends--I have been frank enough hitherto, I think. PISISTRATUS.--True; so I proceed without scruple. Don't tell me your name or your condition, if you object to such confidence; but tell me if you have relations to whom you can apply? You shake your head: well, then, are you willing to work for yourself? or is it only at the billiard-table--pardon me--that you can try to make four sous produce ten francs? STRANGER (_musing_.)--I understand you; I have never worked yet--I abhor work. But I have no objection to try if it is in me.