"Not now, doctor, pray," said Mrs Alleyne, quickly. "My son's digestion is very weak." "This won't hurt his digestion, madam," said Oldroyd; "a child could do it without a slate." "Pray ask me," said Alleyne, "and I will endeavour to answer you." "Well, then: here is my problem," said Oldroyd; "perhaps you will try and solve it too, Miss Alleyne. Suppose two men set to work to perform a task, and the one--as you mathematicians would put it, say A, worked twenty hours a day for five years, while B worked eight hours a day for twenty years, which would do most work?" "I know," said Lucy, quickly; "the busy B, for he would do a hundred and sixty hours' work, while A would only do a hundred hours' work." Alleyne smiled and nodded very tenderly at his sister. "Isn't that right?" she said quickly, and her cheeks flushed. "Quite right as to proportion, Lucy," he said, "but in each case it would be three hundred and sixty-five times, or three hundred and thirteen times as much." "Of course," she said. "How foolish of me." "Well, Mr Oldroyd, what about your problem?" continued Alleyne, commencing upon a fresh piece of tough mutton. "You have solved it," said Oldroyd. "You have shown me that the eight-hour's man does more work than the twenty-hour's man." "Yes, but one works five years, the other twenty, according to your arrangement." "Not my arrangement, sir, Nature's. The man who worked twenty hours per diem would be worn out mentally at the end of five years. The man who worked eight hours a day, all surroundings being reasonable, would, at the end of twenty years, be in a condition to go on working well for another ten, perhaps twenty years. Now, my dear sir, do you see my drift?" Moray Alleyne laid down his knife and fork, placed his elbows on either side of his plate, clasped his hands together, and then seemed to cover them with his thick, dark beard, as he rested his chin. A dead silence fell upon the little party, and, as if it were some chemical process going on, small round discs of congealed fat formed on the mutton gravy in the dish. Mrs Alleyne was about to break the silence, but she saw that her son was ready to answer, and she refrained, sitting very upright and motionless in her chair, as she watched the furrows coming and going on his brow. "That is bringing it home, doctor," he said, and there was a slight huskiness in his voice as he spoke. "But you are exaggerating." "I protest, no," said Oldroyd, eagerly. "Allow me, I have made some study of animal physiology, and I have learned this: Nature strengthens the muscles, nerves and tissues, if they are well used, up to a certain point. If that mark is passed--in other words, if you trespass on the other side--punishment comes, the deterioration is rapid and sure." "Mother," said Alleyne, turning to her affectionately; "you have been setting the doctor to tell me this."