CHAPTER XI.
[AN IDLE AFTERNOON.]
Mr Wilfrid Parkinson was a dapper, good-looking, sleek-faced man, of six-and-thirty years of age. He scaled light, and was nimble in all his movements. He had a neat intelligent forehead, neat delicate hands, was always clad in cloth of faultless fit, relieved by linen of snowy whiteness. It was easy to mistake him for a clergyman. To judge by his face and manner, you would think he had a ready intellect always well under control. Had he been a barrister, you would have felt quite sure he would not go into court without having thoroughly made up his case. Had he been a physician, you would have felt certain he would not let his patient sink beyond his skill without asking for assistance. Had he been a clergyman, you would have counted on his orthodoxy from the mere evidence of his general appearance. It was an utterly unspeculative, safe, small head. All the lines in it were acute and true. There was no speculation in the eye; no weight of creative faculty in the brow; no driving power in the poll. It was the head of an artificer in thought, not of an architect of theories. It was the head of a lapidary, not of a pearl-diver. Although the head and all its organs were small, it had balance and self-consistency. You would not expect such a head to raise out of the azure vault the system of Copernicus. You would not expect such a head to conquer Europe with the raw levies of France. But you would not expect from it the stubborn reticence, which for years declined to give the death-blow to the Ptolemaic system, or the crass stupidity which sought a cerecloth in the snow of Russia for the finest army Europe had ever seen. It was the head of an observer, not a theorist; of a captain, not a chief. Above all, it was the head of a practical man of the world, who would not allow folly of any kind, or vanity or pleasure or indolence, to stand in the way of the business of life. Mr Parkinson was at luncheon. He had the wing of a fowl and a slice of tongue on his plate. At his elbow stood a tumbler half full of a good, sound, wholesome claret. Opposite him sat a fair, bright-eyed, gay, pretty Englishwoman, thirty-two years of age--his wife. On one side of the table sat a large-featured rosy-faced boy of five, on the other a girl of seven, with delicate finely-cut features--his son and daughter. The four made up the Parkinson family, and it is doubtful if you could find a more wholesome-looking or better-kept family in London. A neatly-clad maid-servant waited noiselessly. The room was a model of comfort. It was not sombre; it was not gay. It was sober and cool and sweet. The sobriety of the furniture and the paper and the carpet and the pictures made the people look bright, the coolness of the colour made the fire look warmer, and the sweetness of tone soothed the mind insensibly. Mr Parkinson lived near the Regent's Park. The children often went to the Zoological Gardens, and were now discussing their pet beasts, birds, reptiles, and fishes, while the father and mother looked on and listened. At last, the boy, who was getting the worst of the argument, said petulantly,-- 'Father, was Noah's Ark as big as the Zoo?' 'No, Fred.' ''Cause Loo said it was; and she thinks, because she got a prize at Christmas for Bible history, that she knows everything.' 'Oh, Fred, I never said I knew everything, or half everything, and I never said the Ark was as big as the Zoo.' 'Well, you said there were more beasts and birds and fishes in the Ark than in the Zoo. Were there, father?' 'I am not quite sure about the fishes, Fred. I am afraid there are more fishes in the Zoo than in the Ark. Certainly there were more birds and beasts and reptiles in the Ark than there are in the Zoo.' 'But if the Ark wasn't as big as the Zoo, father, how did Noah manage?' 'The animals in the Ark were much better packed, and they had nothing in the Ark nearly so fine for the lions as the new lion-house at the Zoo.' 'And, father, who used to ride the elephants?' 'I do not think we are told, Fred. I don't think there were any little boys and girls in the Ark. There were only eight people saved, and the eight were all grown up.' 'But, father, if there were more beasts, birds, and fishes in the Ark than there are at the Zoo, how did eight people mind them? There are heaps more than eight people minding the birds, beasts, and fishes at the Zoo.' 'I never said there were fishes in the Ark,' broke in Loo, with the conscious responsibility of that prize upon her mind. 'Well, you see, my boy, we are told that, in those days, there were giants, and that would account for a good deal.' 'Were they as big as the great giant at Madame Tussaud's?' 'We are not told. You must remember, Fred, that the Bible does not tell us everything; it tells us only what is necessary.' Mr Parkinson motioned the servant to take away. 'But I'd like awfully much to know how big they were,' said the boy, discontentedly dropping his eyes on the cloth, and falling into a desponding attitude, as custards and jam and fruit were placed on the table. Suddenly the boy looked up. 'Father, you said that thigh-bone on the sideboard was the oldest man's thigh-bone ever found. Was it long since that man died?' 'Yes; a very long time indeed.' 'As long back as the time of the Ark?' 'Yes; farther back still.' 'And were they giants then?' 'So we are told.' 'And is that thigh-bone bigger than the thigh-bone in the giant at Madame Tussaud's?' The father and mother exchanged momentary glances and smiles, in which each said to the other, 'This boy is no fool. There are duller boys than this in London.' To the boy he answered,-- 'The bone on the sideboard is not as long as the thigh of the giant Louschkin. But then, Fred, you must remember the bone was found in Egypt, very far away from where the Ark was built, and that we are not told all the people on earth then were very tall.' Fred had nothing further to say, and the meal was over; so the family rose. 'Now scamper off,' said the father cheerfully to the young people, 'and be sure you and mother are ready after dinner for the pantomime.' The children left the room. When they had gone, Parkinson turned to the sideboard, and, looking at the thigh-bone of a man lying on some raw wool, said triumphantly to his wife while pointing to the relic,-- 'This will create a powerful sensation; it is the only one of that period ever found. This vessel, too'--indicating a clumsy and imperfect stone cup, not unlike a chemist's mortar--'is the only one of its kind found of that period. The two go hand-in-hand to prove facts of enormous interest. All Europe will speak of these to-morrow. There will be leading articles in half the papers, and essays in all the more important reviews. What a privilege it is, Alice, to be allowed to introduce such wonders to the world!' She looked with sad, wistful eyes at the waifs which had drifted down from the hidden periods of antique time. What a contrast that battered vessel and that bleached bone to the bright, trim dining-room, the sound of the young children's laughter as they went upstairs to the school-room, and the bright face of Mrs Parkinson as she bent over the relics! 'Wasn't that very smart of Fred?' said Mrs Parkinson, on coming back from the dreary history of this bone and this vessel to the beautiful story of her own children. 'Yes, very smart. He'll be a clever man if he grows up as he now promises.' 'It was good of you, Willie, to answer him as you did. It was good of you. Thank you, love.' 'Alice, I promised you you should bring the children up as you and I were brought up, and you shall. Loo will always be as she is now. God grant the boy may be also as he is now. At all events,' his face grew sad, and his voice faltered slightly, as he added, 'it will be time enough for him to eat the forbidden fruit when he grows up and is strong. I shall never offer him any; and now, good-bye, love. I am off to the Society. We shall have a big gathering to-day, and a man who died long before the Flood will be the hero whom I shall have to introduce.' He gathered up the thigh-bone and the stone vessel, placed them in a case on the floor, closed the case, kissed his wife, and, running blithely down the steps of the front door, hailed a passing hansom and jumped in.