our perfected
scientific theories are superstitions, and we ourselves a fallen
inferior race?"

Sham Rao stood before us with tears in his eyes. We were at a loss what
to answer him, being confused to the last degree by this outburst.

"Mind you, I do not proclaim our popular beliefs to be infallible
dogmas. I consider them as mere theories, and try to the best of my
ability to reconcile the ancient and the modern science. I formulate
hypotheses just like Darwin and Haeckel. Besides, if I understood
rightly, Miss X---- is a spiritualist, so she believes in bhutas. And,
believing that a bhuta is capable of penetrating the body of a medium,
how can she deny that a bhuta, and more so a less sinful soul, may enter
the body of a vampire-bat?"

I own, this logic was a little too condensed for us, and so, avoiding a
direct answer to a metaphysical question of such delicacy, we tried to
apologize and excuse Miss X----'s rudeness as well as we could.

"She did not mean to offend you," we said, "she only repeated a calumny,
familiar to every European. Besides, if she had taken the trouble to
think it over, she probably would not have said it...."

Little by little we succeeded in pacifying our host. He recovered his
usual cheerfulness, but could not resist the temptation of adding a
few words to his long argumentation. He had just begun to reveal to us
certain peculiarities of his late brother's character, which induced him
to be prepared, judging by the laws of atavism, to see their repetition
in the propensities of a vampire bat, when Mr. Y----suddenly dashed in
on our small group and spoiled all the results of our conciliatory words
by screaming at the top of his voice: "The old woman has gone demented!
She keeps on cursing us and says that the murder of this wretched bat
is only the forerunner of a whole series of misfortunes brought on her
house by you, Sham Rao," said he, hastily addressing the bewildered
follower of Haackel. "She says you have polluted your Brahmanical
holiness by inviting us. Colonel, you had better send for the elephants.
In another moment all this crowd will be on us..."

"For goodness' sake!" exclaimed poor Sham Rao, "have some consideration
for my feelings. She is an old woman, she has some superstitions, but
she is my mother. You are educated people, learned people... Advise me,
show me a way out of all these difficulties. What should you do in my
place?"

"What should I do, sir?" exclaimed