e committee, but not the committee
to him. Several of them he recognized from the portraits in the shop
windows.

They stood or sat in groups looking over a probationer's thesis. It
consisted of diagrams of machinery.

Andrew did not see the sketches, though they were handed round
separately for inspection, but he listened eagerly to the president's
explanations.

"The first," said the president, "is a beautiful little instrument
worked by steam. Having placed his head on the velvet cushion D, the
subject can confidently await results.

"No. 2 is the same model on a larger scale.

"As yet 3 can be of little use to us. It includes a room 13 feet by
11. X is the windows and other apertures; and these being closed up
and the subjects admitted, all that remains to be done is to lock the
door from the outside and turn on the gas. E, F, and K are couches,
and L is a square inch of glass through which results may be noted.

"The speciality of 4, which is called the 'water cure,' is that it is
only workable on water. It is generally admitted that release by
drowning is the pleasantest of all deaths; and, indeed, 4, speaking
roughly, is a boat with a hole in the bottom. It is so simple that a
child could work it. C is the plug.

"No. 5 is an intricate instrument. The advantage claimed for it is
that it enables a large number of persons to leave together."

While the thesis was under discussion, the attendance was increased by
a few members specially interested in the question of female suffrage.
Andrew observed that several of these wrote something on a piece of
paper which lay on the table with a pencil beside it, before taking
their seats.

He stretched himself in the direction of this paper, but subsided as he
caught the eyes of two of the company riveted on his neck.

From that time until he left the rooms one member or other was staring
at his neck. Andrew looked anxiously in the glass over the mantelpiece
but could see nothing wrong.

The paper on the table merely contained such jottings as these:--

"Robert Buchanan has written another play."

"Schnadhoerst is in town."

"Ashmead Bartlett walks in Temple Gardens 3 to 4."

"Clement Scott (?)"

"Query: Is there a dark passage near Hyndman's (Socialist's) house?"

"Talmage. Address, Midland Hotel."

"Andrew Lang (?)"

Andrew was a good deal interested in woman's suffrage, and the debate
on this question in the students' society at Edinbur