ow that Bimbane has asserted the
contrary. Think of this, therefore, Chia'gnosi, and ask yourself
whether you may not have been led by a cunning, unscrupulous, and lying
old witch to give your sympathy to the wrong person. If you are capable
of being convinced by the truth--as I believe you are--I can convince
you. But you must give me the opportunity; and if you will but do this,
I tell you that you will thank me for asking you to hear what I have to
say."

To say that I was amazed and shocked beyond all power of expression at
the possibility that I had been hoodwinked and played with by a
preternaturally plausible old woman is to put the matter very mildly;
yet slowly the conviction dawned upon me that it might be so. I
suddenly remembered my own youth and inexperience, and the tales that
had been told me of Bimbane's unnatural longevity; and gradually I came
to realise how easy a woman of her prolonged and wide experience would
find it to play upon my sympathy and credulity until she had brought me
to a state of mind in which I should be prepared to believe whatever she
might choose to tell me. She had indeed almost brought me to that state
of mind, but not quite; I still retained sense enough to recognise that
my judgment was not infallible, my wisdom not so great but that it might
be possible for an exceedingly clever person to deceive me. And then it
suddenly occurred to me that Bimbane's version of the Siluce incident
was entirely unsupported save by her own assertions, while the statement
of Siluce herself--made with her dying breath, when, it might be
assumed, she could have no possible motive for telling a falsehood--was
fully confirmed by Anuti. Yes; the two stories differed so completely
that one of them must necessarily be untrue, and I felt that I owed it
to myself to discover which of them it was. It was all very well for me
to pretend that I would not permit myself to be involved in a quarrel
with which I had no concern, but I began to realise that possibly I
might not be allowed any option in the matter, and that in spite of
myself I might be compelled to take one side or the other; and if that
should prove to be the case I must see to it that I was not inveigled
into espousing the wrong side. Therefore, when I had reasoned the
matter out in my own mind, somewhat after the above fashion, I turned to
Anuti, and, giving him my hand, said:

"You are right, Anuti; you are entitled to demand that I