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 yet the environment and the absence of public opinion had reduced him to something worse than a savage, and so I say again, one can excuse a cannibal whose traditions and customs have known no change for centuries, but you cannot excuse a freebooter who goes back on every drop of decent blood in his veins.”

Before any one could reply The Architect was on his feet waving his napkin. “By Jove!” he cried, “what a personality! Wouldn’t he be a hit in comic opera! And think what could be done with the scenery; and that procession of parasols, with snakes hanging down from the branches, and monkeys skipping around among the leaves! Robinson Crusoe wouldn’t be in it—why, it would take the town by storm! Girls in black stockinette and bangles, savages, spears, palms, elephant tusks, Goringe in a helmet and goat-skin shoes! I’ll tell Michel Carré about it the first time I see him.”

“And every one of Goringe’s girls a beautiful seductive houri,” chimed in Louis with a wink at Le Blanc. “You seem to have slurred over all the details of this part of the panorama, Herbert.”

“Oh, ravishingly beautiful, Louis! Half of