claimed,--

"This matter must be threshed out thoroughly, Madame herself would wish
it so."

He paused, drew his chair nearer to the Prophet's, took off a glove and
continued,--

"Sir, you may be a prophet. You may have prophesied correctly in the
Berkeley Square. But if you are, and if you have, remember this--that
you have proved the self-sacrifice, the privation, the denial, the
subterfuge, the _mask_, and the position of Sagittarius Lodge in its own
grounds beside the River Mouse at Crampton St. Peter, N.--N., I said,
sir--totally and entirely unnecessary. I will go further, sir, and I
will say more. You have not only done that. You have also proved the
sacred instinct of a woman, a respectable married woman--such as we
must all reverence--false and deceived. Remember this, sir, remember all
this, then search yourself thoroughly and say whether what you have told
me is strictly true."

"I assure you--" began the Prophet, hastily.

But Malkiel sternly interrupted him.

"Search yourself, sir, I beg!" he cried.

"But upon my honour--"

"Hush, sir, hush! I beg, nay, I insist, that you search yourself
thoroughly before you answer this momentous question."

The Prophet felt rather disposed to ask whether Malkiel expected him to
examine his pockets and turn out his boots. However, he sat still while
Malkiel drew out a large gold watch, held it solemnly in his hand for a
couple of minutes and then returned it to the waistcoat.

"Now, sir," he said.

"I assure you," said the Prophet, "on my honour that all I have said is
strictly true."

"And took place in the Berkeley Square?"

"And took place in the Berkeley Square."

Malkiel nodded morosely.

"It may have been chance," he said. "A weather forecast and an honoured
grandmother may have been mere luck. Still it looks bad--very bad."

He sighed heavily, and seemed about to fall into a mournful reverie when
the Prophet cried sharply,--

"Explain yourself, Malkiel the Second. You owe it to me to explain
yourself. Why should my strange gift--"

"If you have it, sir," interrupted Malkiel, quickly.

"If I have it, very well--affect you? Why should it render the
self-sacrifice and--and the position of--of Sagittarius Lodge on the
river--the river--what river did you say--?"

"The River Mouse," rejoined Malkiel in a muffled voice, and shaking his
head sadly.

"Exactly--on the River Mouse at Crompton--"

"Crampton."

"Crampton St. Peter total--"

"N.