"Poor Mr. Bundy!" said Arthur, in mock commiseration. "Ah! you may well say it, laddie, and poor Mrs. Bundy, too, for I'd never been so miserable in my life. You see, it was the dullness of the thing that made us miserable. When you can get everything you want, you don't want anything after a time." "And how did it end?" "Well, one morning I lay a-bed late, for there was nothing particular to get up for, and I could hear Bundy in his dressing-room, opening and shutting drawers, as though he couldn't make up his mind what clothes he wanted to wear. There came a knock on the outer door, and I heard a crumpling of paper, and then he whistled. "'What is it?' I called out. "He didn't answer, but I heard him rampaging round. So I jumped out of bed, and ran into the dressing-room, and there stood Bundy laughing to himself, and upon my word he looked happier than I had seen him for twelve months or more. "'What is it?' I says again. "And then he looked at me mighty solemn and queer, and says, 'Can ye bear it?' "'Bear what?' says I. "'Oh! nothing much,' says he, 'only we're bust. The oil's given out.' "'Then we're poor?' says I. "'Poor we are,' says he--'poor as Job. For, you see, I've been spending everything as it came, thinking that that oil would last for ever, and now we're bust.' "'Hallelujah!' says I. 'That's the best news I've heard a long time.' "He looked at me a minute, kind of doubtful, and then he burst out laughing, and says, 'I rather think I feel that way myself.' "'I knew you would,' says I. And then I put my arms round him, and we danced round the room, and I give you my word that was the happiest hour I ever spent in that big house at Kensington. You see, we'd both been dying of dullness, though neither of us liked to say it. We'd got where there weren't any adventures; and that's why life didn't seem worth living." She looked at Arthur with humorous eyes, in which also there was the gleam of motherly affection and solicitude. "You're dreadfully afraid of being poor, aren't you, my dear?" she concluded. "London makes men feel like that. And it's because men get afraid of life that they take the first comfortable groove that offers, and then all the fun is over for them. Well, don't you be like that. If I was you, I'd live my life, and let the question of getting a living shift for itself. And remember what I say, for it's true--the only people who really enjoy life are the poor, because they're the only people who have lots to look forward to." V THE MAGIC NIGHT