having earned them by hard and patient
toil) confidingly hand them across the
mahogany counters to the young men. Above the
door of this room, upon the row of fire-buckets
which are hanging there, and upon the books
in which the young men write, appear these
words: 'The Royal Swyndling and Doem
Joint-Stock Bank.'

"Whilst I look, however," the magician
went on to say:

"I perceive that the windows of the large
room are closed, though it is day, and that
the men and women are crowding round the
outer door, the better to read a paper there
fixed. There is an awful, ghastly shadow of
despair upon their faces as they read."

"By this, O magician! I infer that the
Swyndling and Doem Joint-Stock Bank has
been commercially unfortunate. Where,
then, is the monstrous unjust wrong which
I want you to point out?"

"I see," said the wizard in response,
"many gentlemen of irreproachable respectability,
who are termed directors of the
Swyndling and Doem Joint-Stock Bank;
they live in country houses surrounded by
undulating and well-wooded parks and
extensive pleasure-grounds, as befits the dignity
of their high position: they have many
horses in their stables, which, (it is the
wonderful prerogative of my art to reveal)
are paid for, and supported by the moneys of
the bank: there are many dogs in their
kennels, paid for and supported by the
moneys of the bank: there are many
servants in their servants'-hall, paid for and
supported by the moneys of the bank; there
are many guests (alas! that friendship can
be bought with gold) in their magnificent
drawing-rooms, paid for, and supported by
the moneys of the bank: there are pineries,
hot-houses, melonries, conservatories in their
gardens: there are clarences, britzskas.
broughams, waggonettes, sociables, and
family-coaches in their coach-houses: there
are luxuries of every variety, and from all
climes;—all of which my art reveals
to me, have been, for long years past,
paid for, and supported by the moneys of
the bank. I see," he went on, "bankrupt
firms of all descriptions—but all wonderfully
alike, in respect of never having been
possessed of one farthing of legitimate capital
—which, hanging for years upon the verge
of ruin, have been lavishly supported—as,
what would be the value of a director's friendship
if they had not been?—by the moneys
of the bank. I see," he continued, speaking
quickly, as a man might, in treating a matter of
so little moment, "that the country gentlemen
of irreproachable respectability have forged
balance sheets; have paid large dividends
from fictitious capital, have delivered annual
speeches full of eloquence and lies, and have,
generally, acted up to the responsibilities of
their position, by making things as pleasant as
possible. This, O feringee! is what I behold."

"But let me still better understand, O
wizard! what the simple meaning of this
strange vision may be. I gather that your
supernatural art reveals to you that the
country gentlemen of irreproachable
respectability have been living upon moneys which
were not their own. Is this the case?"

"It is the case."

"That they have, in fact, appropriated and
spent cash which is not their own?"

"Even so."

"That, therefore, having become amenable
to the righteous laws, of which we nationally
are so justly proud, they have been punished
as they well deserve? Look again."

Another pinch of incense ignited, and the
Ulema continued:

"I see abject poverty; I see hopeless
ruin; I see the sudden shattering of the
hopes of many years; I behold gaunt despair
in struggles with death. These are the
punishments which have fallen upon the
foolish men and women who confidingly
entrusted the hard-won earnings of long
years of toil to their hands. But know, O
inquirer into hidden things! that it is the
special peculiarity of your social system and
your righteous laws, that country gentlemen
of irreproachable respectability shall NOT be
shaken from their high position by such
trifling accidents as mere misappropriation
of other people's money."

If it is necessary to explain the mental
process by which I arrived at the determination
(after the foregoing failure) to make
one more trial of the wizard's skill, I may
mention that I said to myself: "We are a
great military nation. We pay I don't know
how many millions a year for the support of
a standing army. Let it be my privilege
to behold the paternal consideration of our
government for their gallant and expensive
troops, that my heart may rejoice thereat.
Now, O wizard! once more exert your art,
and tell me what you see?"

"I see," the voice from out the smoke
replied, "a long low room, wherein are many
beds arranged down either side, with very
narrow space between each bed. The air is thick
and heavy. In the centre of the room there
appears to be a large rough wooden trough,
from which a fetid cloud exhales, to hang
in dense festoons of poisonous vapour around
the beds. From out the beds themselves
rise other vapours, which, mingling overhead,
distil a deadly dew upon the sleeping forms
beneath. The sleepers, I perceive, are worn
and prematurely aged men, from whom the
pith and vigour of manhood have been sapped
by the breathing of bad air, and the eating of
unwholesome food. The recognition of any
of the common decencies of life has long been
lost (as how could it be otherwise?) to them.
The paupers in the parish workhouse live in
luxury, compared to them. The petted,
cherished, tenderly nursed felons in the county
gaol are as the wearers of fine linen, who