ars ago,
poor soul, and I suppose is now freezing her former acquaintances in
the Shades, for I cannot imagine that she ever had a friend. They talk
a great deal about the influences of heredity nowadays, but I don't
believe very much in them myself. Who, for instance, could conceive
that persons so utterly different in every way as Lady Longden and her
daughter, Miss Holmes, could be mother and child? Our bodies, no doubt,
we do inherit from our ancestors, but not our individualities. These
come from far away.

A good many of the guests went at the same time, having long distances
to drive on that cold frosty night, although it was only just ten
o'clock. For as was usual at that period even in fashionable houses, we
had dined at seven.

CHAPTER IV

HARUT AND MARUT

After Lord Ragnall had seen his guests to the door in the old-fashioned
manner, he returned and asked me if I played cards, or whether I
preferred music. I was assuring him that I hated the sight of a card
when Mr. Savage appeared in his silent way and respectfully inquired
of his lordship whether any gentleman was staying in the house whose
Christian name was _Here-come-a-zany_. Lord Ragnall looked at him with a
searching eye as though he suspected him of being drunk, and then asked
what he meant by such a ridiculous question.

"I mean, my lord," replied Mr. Savage with a touch of offence in his
tone, "that two foreign individuals in white clothes have arrived at
the castle, stating that they wish to speak at once with a _Mr.
Here-come-a-zany_ who is staying here. I told them to go away as the
butler said he could make nothing of their talk, but they only sat down
in the snow and said they would wait for _Here-come-a-zany_."

"Then you had better put them in the old guardroom, lock them up with
something to eat, and send the stable-boy for the policeman, who is a
zany if ever anybody was. I expect they are after the pheasants."

"Stop a bit," I said, for an idea had occurred to me. "The message may
be meant for me, though I can't conceive who sent it. My native name is
Macumazana, which possibly Mr. Savage has not caught quite correctly.
Shall I go to see these men?"

"I wouldn't do that in this cold, Quatermain," Lord Ragnall answered.
"Did they say what they are, Savage?"

"I made out that they were conjurers, my lord. At least when I told them
to go away one of them said, 'You will go first, gentleman.' Then, my
lord, I heard a hissing so