“Looking for grains of gold?” inquired Virey, with sarcasm. “I’ll lend you my magnifying glass.”
“I’m watching these red ants,” replied Adam, without looking up.
Virey bent over and, having seen, he slowly straightened up.
“Go to the ant, thou sluggard!” he ejaculated, and this time without sarcasm.
“Virey, I’m no sluggard,” returned Adam. “It’s you who are that. I’m a worker.”
“Wansfell, I was not meaning you,” said Virey. “There are things I hate you for, but laziness is certainly not included in them.... I never worked in my life. I had money left me. It was a curse. I thought I could buy everything. I bought a wife—the big-eyed woman to whom you devote your services—and your attentions.... And I bought for myself the sweetness of the deadly nightshade flower—a statue of marble, ch
