"Mabel says that smoke never offends your olfactories, or affects
your head unpleasantly, when you are suffering from this nervous
affection," he said to Herbert.
"On the contrary, it often acts as a sedative," was the reply.
Winston lighted a cigar with an allumette from a bronze
taper-stand--a Christmas gift from his wife, which she kept supplied
with fanciful spiles twisted and fringed into a variety of shapes;
drew several long breaths to be certain that the fire had taken hold
of the heart of the Havana, tossed the pretty paper into the embers,
and resumed his seat in the chimney corner.
"A sedative is a good thing for people who allow their nerves to get
out of gear," he remarked, dryly and leisurely, puffing contentedly
in the middle and at the end of the sentence. "But he who does this
subverts the order of the ruler aad the ruled. I supposed I had
nerves once, but it is an age since they have dared molest me. I
know that I had my impulses when I was younger."
He stopped to fillip the ash forming upon the ignited end of his
cigar, performing the operation with nicety, using the extreme tip
of his middle-finger nail over the salver attached for the purpose
to the bronze smoking-set.
"I obeyed one, above a dozen years ago. I learned only to-day that
it was rash and unwise, and to how much evil it may lead."
"Not a very active evil, if you have just discovered it to be such."
The speaker was his sister. Herbert was motionless upon his couch.
Mrs. Aylett, in the lounging-chair at the opposite side of the
hearth from her husband, was cutting the leaves of a new magazine he
had brought from the post-office, and did not seem to hear his
remark.
"You reason upon the assumption that ignorance is bliss," said Mr.
Aylett. "Allow me to express the opinion that the adage embodying
that idea is the refuge of cowards and fools. No matter how grievous
a bankrupt a man may be financially in spirit, he is craven or a
blockhead to shrink the investigation of his accounts. Which
allusion to bankruptcy brings me to the recital of a choicely
offensive bit of scandal I heard to-day. It is seldom that I give
heed to the like, but the delicious rottenness revealed by this tale
enforced my hearing, and fixed the details in my mind. I could not
but think, as I rode home, of the accessories which would add
effectiveness, to-night, to my second-hand narrative. I had the
whole scene, which is now before me, in my mind's eye--the warm
firelight and the shaded lamp brightening all within, while the rain
pattered without; the interesting invalid over there gradually
stirring into interest as the story progressed; you, Mabel, calmly
and critically attentive; and my Lady Aylett, too proud to look the
desire she really feels to handle the lovely carrion."