cried out, "Come to my arms, my long-lost brother!" or were a
strawberry-mark actually found, I could not have been surprised. As it
was, his frenzied tugs at the lapel of my coat threatened its immediate
destruction, and my spinal column ached under his demoniac slaps on the
back, before I gasped out my congratulations.

Wine, excitement, or the society of one who at least had treated him
with common decency, warmed the little geniality that remained in him.

With a jerk he thrust me into his study, and, while thrilling music
swept through the echoing halls, and the solid flooring swayed under the
feet of the dancers, the Beast opened his heart. Shrinking, as though
'twere felony, from the penury of early life, flying from a brief hour
of married happiness, in wild triumph he plunged into the dreariness of
the upward struggle. Maddened with success, spurning all thought of
concealment, with shocking exactness he entered into every detail of the
contest, every incident in the appalling history. The low cunning and
miserable privation that accumulated the first paltry hundreds, the
trickery that made them thousands, the heartless sacrifice of
self-respect that doubled and trebled the swelling store, were gloated
over with a grin of delight. Transactions imbued with a depravity that
made me shudder, were narrated with a chuckle; chicaneries of a depth
and maliciousness positively devilish, were touched with a smirk. For
_this_ he had lied and cheated; for _this_ his wretched body grew lean
for want of food; for _this_ all the world loathed him. In _his_ youth
poverty _crushed_ him; but his little girl, away at school, never knew
the meaning of the word. Widows went portionless, but _she_ did not
want; orphans starved, _her_ platter was always full. _He_ had been
spattered by the coaches of the rich; but now his chariot, and _her_
chariot, would take a drive. They had called him Beast; but _now_ they