planisphere was nowhere to be found, and at last in despair he resolved
to do without it, and to trust to his fairly accurate knowledge of the
heavens. He, therefore, took up his station by the window and proceeded
to extract from the pocket of his smoking-jacket the account-book in
which he had dotted down the directions of "Madame and self." They were
very vague, for his dots had been agitated. Still, by the help of the
George the Third candlestick, in which was a lighted taper, the Prophet
was able to make out enough to refresh his memory. He was to begin by
placing his beloved grandmother in the claws of the crab. Leaning upon
the sill of the window he found the crab and--breathing a short prayer
for forgiveness--committed his dear relation to its offices. He then
retreated and, assuming very much the position of Mr. Ferdinand, applied
his right eye to the telescope, at the same time holding his left eye
firmly shut with the forefinger of his left hand. At once the majesty of
the starry heavens burst upon him in all its glory.

Exactly at half-past one o'clock, two hours and a half later, the
enthralled Prophet heard a low whistle which seemed to reach him from
the square. He withdrew his fascinated right eye from the telescope and
endeavoured to use it in an ordinary manner, but he could at first see
nothing. The low whistle was repeated. It certainly did come from the
square, and the Prophet approached the open window and once more tried
to compel the eye that had looked so long upon the stars to gaze with
understanding upon the earth. This time he perceived a black thing, like
a blot, about six feet high, beyond the area railings. From this
blot came a third whistle. The Prophet, who was still dazed by the
fascination of star-gazing, mechanically whistled in reply, whereupon
the blot whispered at him huskily,--

"At it again, are you?"

"Yes," whispered the Prophet, also huskily, for the night air was cold.
"But how should you know?"

Indeed he wondered; and it seemed to him as if the blot were some
strange night thing that must have companioned him, invisibly, when he
kept his nocturnal watches in the drawing-room, and that now partially
revealed itself to him in the, perhaps, more acutely occult region of
the basement.

"How should I know!" rejoined the blot with obvious, though very hoarse,
irony. "Whatever d'you take me for?"

The Prophet began to wonder, but before he had gone on wondering for
more th