house front into a strong light, then sent a vivid flash into his eyes. His attention was arrested. At the same moment the raven discerned him, and as though this new and terrific apparition paralyzed the bird, its hoarse cry ceased, it fluttered back, was quiet for an instant, then fiercely stretching its wings, again it rose and, with low, uncertain eddying flew round and round, higher and higher over the head of its tiny adversary, its screams almost human in their anger and distress, and disappeared in the blackness of the night.

The dwarf, intent on the struggle, had not heeded the stranger's approach and, as the raven left him in possession of the field he sank, trembling in every limb, and absolutely unnerved, upon the bottommost step and wiped the perspiration from his brow. Suddenly he sprang excitedly to his feet as a deep bass voice close at hand exclaimed: "The bird has not hurt you, little one?" Speech failed the master of the situation. He stared up at the gigantic figure, as it towered above him nodding its head in friendliest fashion, and some minutes passed before his excited senses were restored to equanimity. He sank again upon the step and answered, his heart still beating a lively pit-a-pat: "I thank you-there is nothing the matter with me. I am only a little -out of breath. I should have been more discreet and not meddled with the stupid thing. But that is one of my weaknesses-as you see" Again a glance at the mighty piece of humanity at his side, for the giant to bring himself within easier range had taken a seat by his little friend, and, in the uncertain light cast by the flaring street lamps, the huge head on the Brobdignagian shoulders, the brawny hairy hands, the shoes that might have been hewed by the woodman's axe, appeared all the more prodigious.

no immediate response. He took the lantern, the door of which had closed, pressed the spring and held the light close up to his face. Then, after a pause, he said: "Look at me more nearly, my dear sir. You will observe that, had parents I should have quite outgrown their superintending care-although as is evident growing was never my forte. In that particular you have made suchy progress that you must entertain a rather poor opinion of one who scarcely reaches up to your knees. But gifts are unequally divided, and it seems to me that neither of us can call the other to account. I cannot deny that I am a freak of nature, a sorry jest in which my Maker has indulged; but you-I trust I do not offend-you are also one of Nature's whims, and Truth, here as everywhere else, seems to lie in the middle. I should find it difficult to say, despite the advantage your eight feet give you, which one of us is really the better off."

This speech he made rather rapidly and with an eager expression on the wise little face, as though not at all sure how the confident tone he had as-.. sumed-despite the pit-a-pat about the left breast-would be accepted by the huge creature at his side who could so easily crush the life out of him with a mere pressure of his foot.

His fears were groundless. There was no rebuff. A silence, and then the ample chest heaved with a mighty sigh.

"You do not know me," said the large man, "otherwise however uncomfortable you may find your own skin you would not wittingly exchange for mine. But that is neither here nor there. Can I be of any service to you? Shall I see you home? Your meeting with the illtempered bird must have upset you."

which, owing to my sedentary life, is apt to grow dull and sluggish. If agreeable to you, and you have no more pressing business, let us sit here a while longer. Allow me to introduce my diminutive self to you."

He unbuttoned his overcoat, drew from its pocket a tiny card case and extracted therefrom a small visiting card. His neighbor took it very carefully with two shapeless fingers, glanced at it and then said: "It is too dark to make out such fine writing. Will you not tell me your name? I cannot offer you one of my visiting cards; I have no use for such things. Why should I?" he added with a bitter laugh. "I make no visits; I make no new acquaintances. You are the first person in years" A deep sigh prevented further speech.

The little optimist's spirits, however, were not to be crushed, and he chirruped forth: "Do you know that my case is exactly like yours? With the exception of the people in the house where I have lived for the past ten years, I have associated with no human soul since I came to this town. And truly I never dreamed that so high and lofty a personage as yourself would condescend to stoop to me. This card on which my name, Theodore Hinze, is engravedand I have engraved it myself in copper, for I like to try my hand at all these little arts-is an unwarranted piece of luxury for which I have no excuse. I am by trade a wood-engraver. In my leisure hours I etch, I lithograph, I grave on steel, I do aqua-tints. So the day goes, I know not how, and I find no time for visiting, even supposing that ordinary mortals would wish to have such an oddity as I on their visiting list. But since one cannot keep well without some fresh air and a certain amount of exercise, I have accustomed myself to take my walks abroad at night. You probably know, from experience, how disagreeable it is to be gaped at from all sides and have a swarm of mischievous boys at your heels. Well, we get rid of all those things at night. And when one has led this sort of existence year in and year out this quiet, peaceful half of life is a much friendlier acquaintance, shows much more goodwill than the bold sunlight that so pitilessly

lays bare weak humanity's failings and infirmities."

He lifted his hat and raised his eyes to the cloud-chased sky, looked through the clouds, and on his face there was an expression of gratitude and resignation.

The other made no response; his elbows were dug into the mighty knees and his face deep buried between the hollowed palms.

"Yes, yes," continued the little man as he vigorously rubbed his sleeve against the glass of his lantern, "one must learn to cut one's coat according to one's cloth; that is the kernel of the whole philosophy. True, the heavenly tailor cut mine out of very scanty material. but I should not be telling the truth if I said that I shivered under it. And then what is to prevent me from growing so tall inwardly that I can reach up to the greatest and the highest; aye, from growing above this narrow world and pushing on toward the stars. You see, that's the mischief of it that an unbound duodecimo like myself must of necessity be a little coward because his measure is better adapted to the requirements of a Nürnberg toy-factory than to association with his so-called fellowmen. At first, I admit, I had a most profound respect for every watchman's shadow and every Newfoundland dog's bark, and pursued my nocturnal rambles with fear and trembling. But one day I took my courage in both hands. "Theodore,' said I, ‘if you are lacking in flesh and bone, what is to prevent you from having the bravery of the biggest clown? and then I cited a thousand and one examples from natural history of animals cast in much more delicate mold than I, who not only defended their young, but who led a very happy and frolicsome life in spite of their enemy, man, and never hesi tated a moment about stealing the cherries from his trees or the sausages from his chimneys. Since then I have prac tised courage so vigorously that I walk in and out among these high beetling houses without a thought of fear, I avoid no adventure and, as you see, sit down and chat with a veritable giant with as stout a heart as ever beat in a Hector's bosom."

Then he became silent, seeming to feel that it was the other's turn to speak and give account of himself. But thought made no headway in the vast brain, melancholy weighed upon it and would not permit the floodgate of passionate recollection to open. At last he found speech, and though the little man made a movement as though to interrupt him, slowly withdrew his hands from his chin, let them fall heavily on his knees and said hoarsely:

"Fate tricks herself in many a shape. It is wonderful,-absolutely wonderful-"

The dwarf's face pictured astonishment. This new acquaintance, whose garb indicated the forester or raftsman, giving vent in such language to this wild outburst of rage and despair, was an unexpected phenomenon. "Pardon me," he said at last, "will you not be good enough to tell me with whom I have the pleasure"

"What difference can it make to you?" interrupted his companion hoarsely. "My name, thank God, has disappeared. It figured long enough on posters next to vile pictures of myself, and underneath notice of the entrance

"That fate has united us by a common bond and that we should here chance upon one another. All my life have I brooded over the idea of finding one human heart that could beat responsive to mine, could understand me; and as the years passed and no sign was given I doubted and despaired. Now I find it; it is next to me, and in such different embodiment from what I pictured it. We hardly meet before we tell one another our secret thoughts. It is marvellous-marvellous!"

Again he sank into his melancholy reflection, but suddenly he started up so wildly and fiercely that his little companion's finely-acquired courage for the moment forsook him.

"Word for word, your case is mine. Thrust aside from my fellow-men, stared at, scoffed at, cursed at, followed by the children in the street. Outlawed, excluded from the pleasant haunts of men like a malefactor who dares not face the light. One of Nature's merry humors that escaped her in a mad orgy and now stands forta in its abnormity to mock and shame her. To be doomed to a useless, aimless existence, to raise one's clinched hands to heaven and ask where dwells that merciful and gracious Father who sent this long-limbed, broad-shouldered son out into the world and then barred the way from all entrance into life's joys and consolations. Have you not wondered a thousand times how your being harmonizes with the idea of righteous justice of which this world is supposed to be a manifestation?"

seats, children and those in the army half price. Can you not imagine that one would be happy to forget his name after having heard it for years screamed out by the criers at all the fairs as the name of the biggest man in the world. And then when the booth was full to have to come in and mount the stand and be stared at by stupid peasants and schoolboys and nursery maids; and to keep one's feet still, not to kick out when the crowd grew venturesome, and thrust out their hands and felt my legs to see if they were made of bone and muscle and not of cotton batting with a stick in the middle. Aye, sir, that is what I had to endure for ten long years. And that is called a human existence,-to be gaped at, to do nothing, to accomplish nothing more than to be big, to wear shoes larger than the military size, and so be stared at-and admired. Oh heavenly justice!"

"True, true," said the little man with a serious nod. "I have had such thoughts many a time. Fortunately I have been spared a fate like yours. But when I used to read in the papers of the human midgets on exhibition a shudder would run through me, and I could almost feel the coarse, greedy hand lifting me on the table, and hear the showman's high pitched voice as he cried out the wonder of the living toy. From such an ordeal, as I say, my good mother and my merciful Creator saved me. Why did you yield to such a life? You are stronger than I. In your place I would have burst my iron cage like a tortured lion and found refuge in the nearest wilderness."

"The merciful Creator! I have been forced to the conclusion that of his bungling handiwork he is more inclined to be merciful to the small than to the large specimens. The big ones, he thinks, can make their way through the world, they have been given fists for that purpose. Though it is doubtful in my mind whether he has anything to say about the affairs entrusted to blind, unreasoning old Mother Nature. When I have reproached him-as I have many a time-for having made me a show piece and nothing else, and he answered me never a word, treating all my prayers and taunts with utter contempt, I have often thought to myself-poor being! (if he really does exist)-perhaps he is no better off than many a human father who has a wicked wife and, for peace sake, lets her do as she chooses. I he could do as he wished, surely he would show old Dame Nature who plays such crazy pranks, that he was master. But she is too strong for him, and he must bend to her, just as my earthly father had to cringe to my mother if she bu raised her finger. So you may imagine I did not exercise much free-will in that household."

great, barren skulls there was not room for so much brains as to teach them their duty to their children and children's children. My father came of a family who prided themselves on their extraordinary size, but his forebears were not a worthless set; they were good, honest workers, carpenters or blacksmiths. My father proved the first exception in the family; not regarding size, for he was a larger man than my grandfather, but in his aversion to honest toil. Instead of taking his place at the anvil and swinging the iron bar he fell upon the happy expedient of making his hugeness his fortune, and so one fine day he started forth into the world and put himself on exhibition. Truly, he was very proud of the disgrace with which he was covering himself. It seemed to him not only comfortable and paying to stand on a platform and make a show of himself, but an honorable thing as well. Then, at one of the fairs he chanced upon a woman who played ball with a hundred pound weight and held a live calf on her outstretched arm; and self-interest prompted him to offer her his hand in the hope of a son who would be worth double the entrance money. His expec

"

"Heart? Are you quite sure that she had a heart? I know not how it is with other women, and whether that which they call a heart is any thing else than a suction pump to send the blood through the veins. But of this woman who brought me into the world—”

He stopped. His great chest heaved with mighty throes, the veins on his forehead stood out dangerously, and his fist came down with a terrific blow on the stone step.

"No," he said at last breaking the silence, "the fourth commandment is absurd. Honor thy father and mother-well enough for those whose fathers and mothers are honorable and entitled to honor. Mine they are in their graves -and, if there be a judgment-day I will not be their accuser; that is all I shall do for them, though they do not deserve even that. For from the moment they first saw me, miserable, hard-hearted

dearly for his rash act. His lazy days were over. He had to serve the woman like a beast of burden, and never a word of thanks or a kind glance in return. She despised him, for all his height, and told him to his face he was a weakling. And so he was. He had never exercised his enormous limbs, they had sufficed for his support without exercise, and he was on the bill for the large man, not the strong. Matters went from bad to worse, he took to drinking, and died one day with as little apparent cause as a hollow tree falls to the ground with never a wind to shake it from the roots. Do you think that his widow shed a tear over him? She was provided for, even after she had grown so fat that her shortness of breath prevented her walking. I was there; the dear son who had grown to be even taller than his father. Well, then, it fell to my turn to support my mother, and to that end I had to work, or rather be stared at, ten hours