As a rule, this was a subject which he shunned.

At last he rose, and, going slowly to the window, looked out for a quarter of an hour.

His wife asked him again about "The Jubilee Odes," and he replied that he meant to begin directly.

Then he went round the morning-room, looking at the pictures on the walls as if for the first time.

After that he leaned for a little while against the mantelpiece, and then, as if an idea had struck him, began to wind up the clock.