the creed of his church, as of all others, in
a lesser degree perhaps, is too crass, too mechanical, too childish to
tally the ideals of a generation which is each day awakening to some
new potency of matter, some wider conception of the universe."

On the study door, checked by the sun and worn by the rain, the
tourist applied his knuckle, and a voice, formal and sonorous, called
out, "Come in!"

Opening the door, which led directly into a dark little den with only
one window, Serviss confronted Clarke reading by a green-shaded lamp,
in whose light he appeared as pallid, as remote from the sun, as a
monk of the Middle Ages.

He rose quickly upon recognizing his visitor. "I'm glad to see you,
professor; I beg your pardon for not rising. I thought the knock came
from my janitor. Take a seat, please." He gathered a handful of books
from a yellow arm-chair and pushed it forward with his foot. "Your
visit is most opportune. I was meditating a call at your hotel
to-night. I wanted to get your idea concerning two or three scientific
discoveries which seem to me to have a most important bearing on the
welfare of the race."

Serviss became each moment more keenly aware of being face to face
with a task which required all his tact, his self-possession, and his
wit, for the man before him was immured in self-conceit, accustomed to
carrying his point by a rush of words, and was, withal, a student
possessed of unusual intellectual resource. He made a very handsome
figure as he took his seat amid his books. His face, freshly shaven,
gleamed like blue-white marble, and his abundant dark hair, drawn away
from his brow by careless fingers, lay in a tumbled mass above his
ear, adding a noticeably sculptural finish to his shapely head. His
hands, thin, long, and restless, alone betrayed the excitement which
the coming of this Master of the Germ engendered in him. He was eager
to question, but he waited for his visitor to begin, which he did with
manly directness.

"I have called to talk with you about Miss Lambert. She and her mother
having honored me by asking my advice as to her study in New York, I
would like to know whether you, as their pastor, counsel this movement
on her part?"

The clergyman's sentient fingers sought, found, and closed tightly
upon a ruler. "That I cannot answer directly," he said, slowly. "Miss
Lambert's case is not simple. She is a very remarkable musician, that
you know, and yet her talent is fitful. S