, sitting in
judgment upon her conduct.

"I--I--was afraid to start right away. It was dark in there and I was
afraid this young man might take liberties. Indeed, he did try to kiss
me."

With a roar, the mulierose man launched himself at Mr. Middleton, who
dexterously stepping aside, had the satisfaction of seeing his
assailant slip and fall on the wet sidewalk. The lady thereat raised a
cry of great volume, which was taken up by the woman looking out of
the window above, and Mr. Middleton thinking he could derive neither
pleasure nor profit from remaining longer in that locality, fled
incontinently.

Upon his arrival home and preparing for bed, he found that he was
wearing a stiff hat made in Kansas City, bearing on the sweat-band a
silver plate inscribed "George W. Dobson." The mulierose man and he
had exchanged hats at the restaurant. The mulierose man now had the
love philter.

It was not until four days had elapsed that Mr. Middleton found an
opportunity to visit the street where these inexplicable events took
place. The house where he had comforted the eighth woman was still
empty. At the house whence the mulierose man had issued, a very
unprepossessing old woman, with a teapot in her right hand, was
opening the front door to admit a large yellow cat whom she addressed
as "Mahoney," an appellation which, while not infrequently the family
name of persons of Irish birth or descent, is of very seldom
application to members of the domestic cat tribe, Felis cattus.

Wondering greatly at the chain of unusual events, he went about his
business. You may depend upon it that he gave much thought to an
attempted solution of all these mysteries. But whether or no it was
after all only a series of events commonplace in themselves, but
seeming mysterious because of their fortuitous concatenation, or he
really had trodden upon the hem of a web of strange and darksome,
perhaps appalling, mysteries, he has never been able to say. He was
minded to speak of these things to the emir and get his opinion on
them. Upon reflection, remembering how the philter had not been of any
avail in the case of the young lady of Englewood, he thought, despite
the explanation which might be offered for this failure, that the emir
might be embarrassed at hearing of the failure of the charm, and
accordingly he said nothing when once more he sat in the presence of
the urbane and accomplished prince of the tribe of Al-Yam. Having
handed him a bo