etimes in another.

The first portion of what we listened to shows him at his best; in the
latter part I am afraid you will think he gets a little wild.

I proceed to lay before you the paper which Number Seven read to The
Teacups. There was something very pleasing in the deference which was
shown him. We all feel that there is a crack in the teacup, and are
disposed to handle it carefully. I have left out a few things which he
said, feeling that they might give offence to some of the company. There
were sentences so involved and obscure that I was sure they would not
be understood, if indeed he understood them himself. But there are other
passages so entirely sane, and as it seems to me so just, that if any
reader attributes them to me I shall not think myself wronged by
the supposition. You must remember that Number Seven has had a fair
education, that he has been a wide reader in many directions, and that
he belongs to a family of remarkable intellectual gifts. So it was not
surprising that he said some things which pleased the company, as
in fact they did. The reader will not be startled to see a certain
abruptness in the transition from one subject to another,--it is a
characteristic of the squinting brain wherever you find it. Another
curious mark rarely wanting in the subjects of mental strabismus is an
irregular and often sprawling and deformed handwriting. Many and many
a time I have said, after glancing at the back of a letter, "This
comes from an insane asylum, or from an eccentric who might well be a
candidate for such an institution." Number Seven's manuscript, which
showed marks of my corrections here and there, furnished good examples
of the chirography of persons with ill-mated cerebral hemispheres.
But the earlier portions of the manuscript are of perfectly normal
appearance.

Conticuere omnes, as Virgil says. We were all silent as Number Seven
began the reading of his paper.

Number Seven reads.

I am the seventh son of a seventh son, as I suppose you all know. It is
commonly believed that some extraordinary gifts belong to the fortunate
individuals born under these exceptional conditions. However this may
be, a peculiar virtue was supposed to dwell in me from my earliest
years. My touch was believed to have the influence formerly attributed
to that of the kings and queens of England. You may remember that the
great Dr. Samuel Johnson, when a child, was carried to be touched by her
Maje