n.
Before long he was amusing himself by thinking how it might have gone
with her if she had him for her counsellor instead of a gross and
thoughtless rake like Marmaduke.

It is not necessary to follow the wild goose chase which the Rev.
George's imagination ran from this starting-point to the moment when he
was suddenly awakened, by an unmistakable symptom, to the fact that he
was being outwitted and beglamoured, like the utter novice he was, by a
power which he believed to be the devil. He rushed to the little oratory
he had arranged with a screen in the corner of his sitting-room, and
prayed aloud, long and earnestly. But the hypnotizing process did not
tranquilize him as usual. It excited him, and led him finally to a
passionate appeal for pardon and intercession to a statuet of the Virgin
Mother, of whom he was a very devout adorer. He had always regarded
himself as her especial champion in the Church of England; and now he
had been faithless to her, and indelicate into the bargain. And yet, in
spite of his contrition, he felt that he was having a tremendous
spiritual experience, which he would not for worlds have missed. The
climax of it was the composition of his Sunday sermon, the labor of
which secured him a sound sleep that night. It was duly delivered on the
following Sunday morning in this form:

"Dearly beloved Brethren: In the twenty-third verse of the third chapter
of St. Mark's gospel, we find this question: '_How can Satan cast out
Satan_?' How can Satan cast out Satan? If you will read what follows,
you will perceive that that question was not answered. My brethren, it
is unanswerable: it never has been, and it never can be answered.

"In these latter days, when the power of Satan has become so vast, when
his empire and throne tower in our midst so that the faithful are cast
down by the exceeding great shadow thereof, and when temples innumerable
are open for his worship, it is no strange thing that many faint-hearted
ones should give half their hearts to Beelzebub, and should hope by the
prince of devils to cast out devils. Yes, this is what is taking place
daily around us. Oh, you, who seek to excuse this book to infidel
philosophers by shewing with how much facility a glib tongue may
reconcile it with their so-called science, I tell you that it is science
and not the Bible that shall need that apology in the great day of
wrath. And, therefore, I would have you, my brethren, earnestly
discountena