THE PARS0N. Plots are no more exhausted than men are. Every man isa very new creation, and combinations are simply endless. Even if we didnot have very new material in the daily change of society, and there wereonly a fixed number of incidents and characters in life, inventioncould not be exhausted on them. I amuse myself sometimes with mykaleidoscope, but I can never reproduce a figure. No, no. I cannotsay that you may not exhaust everything else: we may get all thesecrets of a nature into a book by and by, but the novel is immortal,for it deals with men.

The Parson's vehemence came fairly near carrying him into a sermon; andas nobody has the privilege of replying to his sermons, so none ofthe circle made any reply now.

0ur Next Door mumbled something about his hair standing on end, tohear a minister defending the novel; but it did not interrupt thegeneral silence. Silence is unnoticed when people sit before a fire;it would be intolerable if they sat and looked at each other.