much inclined to keep on forever when i was a boy rose up at this point i should like to ask he said mildly if this is supposed to be an audience of children i for one have no wish to listen to the stories of doctor johnson i have come here particularly to night to hear i want story night to compare him with i therefore protest against � there is a roof to this house boat said doctor johnson if mr will retire to the roof with i have no doubt he can be as for solomon s interruption i can afford to pass that over with the silent contempt it deserves though i may add with propriety that i consider his most famous the most absurd bits of hack work i ever encountered and as for that story about dividing a baby between two mothers by it in two it was unless the baby was when i was a boy � as the doctor proceeded and solomon accompanied by the now angry left the room and my account of the story night must stop because though i have never heretofore confessed it all my information concerning the house boat on the has been derived from the of it may be interesting to the read a house boat on the cr to learn however that according to s account the story night was never finished but whether this means that it broke up immediately afterwards in a riot or that doctor johnson is still at work his reminiscences i am not aware and i cannot at the moment of writing ascertain for when i have the pleasure of meeting him invariably the subject xi as to and others it was who spoke i m glad he said that when i embarked at the time of the heavy rains that did so much damage in the old days there weren t any dogs like that fellow about if i d had to feed a lot of beasts like him the ark would have run short of provisions inside of ten days that s very likely true observed mr but i must confess my dear that you showed a lamentable lack of the s instinct when you selected the animals you did a more commonplace lot of beasts were never gathered together and while adam is held responsible for the introduction of sin into the a house boat on the world i attribute most of my to none other than yourself the members of the club drew their chairs a little closer the conversation had opened a trifle and they had retained enough of their to be interested in animal stories adam who had managed to settle his back and house charges and once more acquired the privileges of the club nodded his bead gratefully at mr i m glad to find some one said he who places the responsibility for trouble where it belongs i m round shouldered with the blame i ve had to bear i didn t invent sin any more than i invented the and i think it s rather rough on a fellow who lived a quiet retiring pastoral life his own business and staying home nights to be held up to public for as long a time as i have it be all right in time said just wait � be patient and your as to and others tion will come nobody thought much of the plays bacon and i wrote for shakespeare until shakespeare d been dead a century said adam gloomily wait what have i been doing all this time i ve waited all the time there s been so far and until mr spoke as he did i haven t observed the slightest inclination on the part of anybody to my lost reputation nor do i see exactly how it s to come about even if i do wait you might apply for an committee to look into the charges suggested an american just over get your friends on it and you ll be all right better let sleeping dogs lie said i intend to said adam the fact is i hate to give any further to the matter even if i did bring the case into court and sue for i ve only got one witness to prove my innocence and that s my wife i m not going to drag her a house boat on the into it she s got nervous over her position as it is and this would make it worse queen elizabeth and the rest of these in society won t invite her to any of their functions because they say she hadn t any grandfather and even if she were received by them she d be uncomfortable going about it isn t pleasant for a woman to feel that every one knows she s the oldest woman in the room well take my word for it said kindly it all come out all right you know the old saying history itself some day you will be living back in again and if you are only careful to make an exact record of all you do and have a present before whom you can make an as to the facts you will be able to your innocence i was only condemned on evidence anyhow said adam nonsense you were caught red handed said my grandfather told me so and now that got a chance to as to and others slip in a word i d like to have you explain your statement mr that i am responsible for your errors that is a serious charge to bring against a man of my reputation i mean simply this that to make a show interesting said mr a man has got to provide interesting materials that s all i do not mean to say a word that is in any way to your morality you were a 