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"I have a certain sympathy with that," said the Angel, with a yawn; "it is so much easier."
"So we have found; and our country has got along, perhaps, as well as one could have expected, considering what it has had to contend with: pressure of debt; primrose paths; pelf; party; patrio-Prussianism; the people; pundits; Puritans; proctors; property; philosophers; the Pontifical; and progress. I will not disguise from you, however, that we are far from perfection; and it may be that on your next visit, thirty-seven years hence, we shall be further. For, however it may be with angels, sir, with men things do not stand still; and, as I have tried to make clear to you, in order to advance in body and spirit, it is necessary to be masters of your environment and discoveries instead of letting them be masters of you. Wealthy again we may be; healthy and happy we are not, as yet."
"I have finished my beer," said the Angel aethereal, with finality, "and am ready to rise. You have nothing to drink! Let me give you a testimonial instead!" Pulling a quill from his wing, he dipped it in the mustard and wrote: "A Dry Dog--No Good For Trade" on his dragoman's white hat. "I shall now leave the earth," he added.
"I am pleased to hear it," said his dragoman, "for I fancy that the longer you stay the more vulgar you will become. I have noticed it growing on you, sir, just as it does on us."
The Angel smiled. "Meet me by sunlight alone," he said, "under the left-hand lion in Trafalgar Square at this hour of this day, in 1984.
Remember me to the waiter, will you? So long!" And, without pausing for a reply, he spread his wings, and soared away.
"_L'homme moyen sensuel! Sic itur ad astra!_" murmured his dragoman enigmatically, and, lifting his eyes, he followed the Angel's flight into the empyrean.
1917-18.
_BY THE SAME AUTHOR_
VILLA RUBEIN, and Other Stories THE ISLAND PHARISEES THE MAN OF PROPERTY THE COUNTRY HOUSE FRATERNITY THE PATRICIAN THE DARK FLOWER THE FREELANDS BEYOND FIVE TALES
A COMMENTARY A MOTLEY THE INN OF TRANQUILLITY THE LITTLE MAN, and Other Satires A SHEAF ANOTHER SHEAF
PLAYS: FIRST SERIES _and Separately_
THE SILVER BOX JOY STRIFE
PLAYS: SECOND SERIES _and Separately_
THE ELDEST SON THE LITTLE DREAM JUSTICE
PLAYS: THIRD SERIES _and Separately_
THE FUGITIVE THE PIGEON THE MOB
A BIT O' LOVE
MOODS, SONGS, AND DOGGERELS MEMORIES. Ill.u.s.trated
