implored him with eyes in which panic asserted itself
above rage and cunning. Only here and there did he re-
call a name with which to label one of these countenances;
very few of them raised a memory of individual rancour.
The faces were those of men he had seen, no doubt, but
their persecution of him had been impersonal; his great
revenge was equally so. As he looked, in truth, there
was only one face -- a composite mask of what he had
done battle with, and overthrown, and would trample im-
placably under foot. He stared with a conqueror's cold
frown at it, and gave an abrupt laugh which started harsh
echoes in the stillness of the Board Room. Then he shook
off the reverie, and got to his feet. He shivered a little
at the sudden touch of a chill.

A bottle of brandy, surrounded by glasses, stood on the
table where the two least-considered of his lieutenants,
the dummy Directors, had left it. He poured a small
quantity and sipped it. During the whole eventful day it
had not occurred to him before to drink; the taste of the
neat liquor seemed on the instant to calm and refresh his
brain. With more deliberation, he took a cigar from the
broad, floridly-decorated open box beside the bottle, lit it,
and blew a long draught of smoke thoughtfully through
his nostrils. Then he put his hands in his pockets,
looked again into the fire, and sighed a wondering smile.
God in heaven! it was actually true!

This man of forty found himself fluttering with a novel
exhilaration, which yet was not novel. Upon reflection,
he perceived that he felt as if he were a boy again -- a boy
excited by pleasure. It surprised as much as it delighted
him to experience this frank and direct joy of a child. He
caught the inkling of an idea that perhaps his years were
an illusion. He had latterly been thinking of himself as
middle-aged; the grey hairs thickening at his temples

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