Mr. SEDDON, of the National Democratic Party, compressed the same
argument into an epigram. If the miners' full demands were conceded
they would have "an El Dorado for one minute and disaster the next."
* * * * *
FROST AND THAW.
I was earlier than usual that morning, which was bad luck, as I
heard Fitz-Jones click his gate behind me and thud after me in his
snow-boots. Fitz-Jones and I had a little disagreement, not long ago,
about the sole possession of a servant-maid. Since then there has
been a coolness. Curiously enough, the hideous frost that raged at the
moment (the thermometer stood at twenty-five degrees in the henhouse)
seemed to thaw Fitz-Jones. And I knew why.
Last summer Fitz-Jones had spent four torrid days with the thermometer
at 75 degrees, winding up his pipes in straw "against" the winter. I
had seen his purple face as I hammocked it with an iced drink. He had
seen and heard me laugh.
"Ah," he croaked, "you may laugh on the other side of the hedge now,
but you'll laugh on the other side of your face later."
So now I knew that he was thudding after me in the snow, bursting to
hear that my pipes had burst or were about to burst.
"Hallo, Browne," he began, "how'd you like this?"
"Oh, all right," I said airily. Here I did a wonderful step. Slide
on the right heel--hesitation shuffle on the left toe--two half
slips sideways.
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