Then I went home for I had work to do. And all that evening I thought
of the man's folly, till the thought hindered me from serious work.
And late that night while I was still at work, the ghost of the workman
floated through my wall and stood before me laughing.
I heard no sound until after I spoke to it; but I could see the grey
diaphanous form standing before me shuddering with laughter.
I spoke at last and asked what it was laughing at, and then the ghost
spoke. It said: "I'm a laughin' at you sittin' and workin' there."
"And why," I asked, "do you laugh at serious work?"
"Why, yer bloomin' life 'ull go by like a wind," he said, "and yer 'ole
silly civilization 'ull be tidied up in a few centuries."
Then he fell to laughing again and this time audibly; and, laughing
still, faded back through the wall again and into the eternity from
which he had come.
THE GUEST
A young man came into an ornate restaurant at eight o'clock in
London.
He was alone, but two places had been laid at the table which was
reserved for him. He had chosen the dinner very carefully, by letter
a week before.
A waiter asked him about the other guest.
"You probably won't see him till the coffee comes," the young man
told him; so he was served alone.
Those at adjacent tables might have noticed the young man continually
addressing the empty chair and carrying on a monologue with it
throughout his elaborate dinner.
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