Mr. Fanshawe, speaking for the first time, said he saw no reason for anything ever to be better. The devil, he remarked, had come among us, having great power.
“I am delighted,” said Noel, “to meet a disciple of Mr. Toobad.”
This picking-up of his allusion Mr. Fanshawe acknowledged by the tightening of his thin Ups that was his way of smiling, and said that the devil of today differed from the devil of Revelations in that, far from knowing that he had but a short time, he was comfortably assured that his reign would be even longer than Queen Victoria’s.
“The Dark Ages are upon us, Fanshawe,” said Noel, falling into Mr. Fanshawe’s vein with considerable gusto. “Humane learning is on her death-bed and we shall never see her revival. Law students will probably be forced to study exclusivel
