The flat was shortly afterwards to let. The exclamation "Holy Moses!"
may be in itself quite harmless, and innocuous to friendship, if it is
pronounced in the right, friendly tone. Unfortunately Mr. Alpha used
it with a sarcastic inflection, implying that he regarded Mr. Omega as
a prig, a fussy old person, a miser, a spoilsport, and, indeed,
something less than a man.

"You can only live your life once," said Mr. Alpha.

And they curved gradually apart. This was in 1893.




II


Nearly twenty years later--that is to say, not long since--I had a
glimpse of Mr. Alpha at a Saturday lunch. Do not imagine that Mr.
Alpha's Saturday lunch took place in a miserable garret, amid every
circumstance of failure and shame. Success in life has very little to
do with prudence. It has a great deal to do with courage, initiative,
and individual force, and also it is not unconnected with sheer luck.

Mr. Alpha had succeeded in life, and the lunch at which I assisted
took place in a remarkably spacious and comfortable house surrounded
by gardens, greenhouses, garages, stables, and all the minions
necessary to the upkeep thereof. Mr. Alpha was a jolly, a
kind-hearted, an immensely clever, and a prolific man. I call him
prolific because he had five children. There he was, with his wife and