Oh, what a dreadful day was that, and how I loathed the work.

How I cursed the hour in which I had taken up politics, and sold my honour to win a seat in Parliament and a little cheap notoriety among my fellow-men.

If Stephen Strong had not tempted me Jane would have been vaccinated in due course, and therefore, good friend though he had been to me, and though his wealth was mine to-day, I cursed the memory of Stephen Strong.

Everywhere I went that afternoon I heard ominous whispers.

People did not talk openly; they shrugged their shoulders and nodded and hinted, and all their hints had to do with the smallpox.
"I say, Therne," said an old friend, the chairman of my committee, with a sudden outburst of candour, "what a dreadful thing it would be if after all we A.V.'s were mistaken.