s in terms of science; yet he did not fancy the superior manner
in which this charlatan flouted the supernatural. He had heard of her
miracles--and doubted them. She gave a little laugh at his correction.

"What phrase-jugglers you men are! You want all the splendours of the
Infinite thrown in with the price of admission! I said super-normal,
because we know of nothing greater than nature. Things that are off the
beaten track of the normal, across the frontiers, some call
supernatural; but it is their ignorance of the vast, unexplored
territory of the spirit--which is only the material masquerading in a
different guise."

"But you go to church, to a Lenten service--?" It was as if he had known
her for years, and their unconventional behaviour never crossed his
mind. He did not even ask himself where they were moving.

"I go to church to rest my nerves--as do many other people," she
replied; "I was interested in the parallel of the Seven Deadly Sins and
the Seven Deadly Arts."

"You believe the arts are sinful?" He was curious.

"I don't believe in sin at all. A bad conscience is the result of poor
digestion. Sins are created so that we pay the poll-tax to eternity--pay
it on this side of the ferry. Yet the arts may become dangerous engines
of destruction if wrongfully employed. The Fathers of the early Church,
Ambrose and the rest, were right in viewing them suspiciously."--He
spoke:--

"The arts diabolic! Then what of the particular form of wizardry
practised so successfully by the celebrated Mrs. Whistler, one of whose
names is, according to the Talmud, that of Adam's first wife?"

"What do you know, my dear young man, of diabolic arts?"

"Only that I am walking with you near the park on a dark night of April
and I never saw you before a half-hour ago. Isn't that magic--white, not
black?"

"Pray do not mock magic, either white or black. Remember the fate of the
serpents manufactured by Pharaoh's magicians. They were, need I tell
you, speedily devoured by the serpents of Moses and Aaron. Both parties
did not play fair in the game. If it was black magic to transform a rod
into a snake on the part of Pharaoh's conjurers, was it any less
reprehensible for the Hebrew magicians to play the same trick? It was
prestidigitation for all concerned--only the side of the children of
Israel was espoused in the recital. Therefore, do not talk of black or
white magic. There is only one true magic. And it is not slate-writin