scourage it. Modifications to be
suggested later. Taken all round, Mr. Arlington's view was that the
thing must be regarded almost as the answer to a prayer. Mr.
Arlington's eyes on their way to higher levels, appear to have been
arrested by the church clock. It decided Mr. Arlington to resume his
homeward way without further loss of time. At the bend of the lane the
Professor, looking back, observed that Mr. Arlington had broken into a
trot.

This seems to have been the end of the Professor, regarded as a sane
and intelligent member of modern society. He had not been sure at the
time, but it was now revealed to him that when he had urged Malvina to
test her strength, so to express it, on the unfortunate Mrs. Arlington,
it was with the conviction that the result would restore him to his
mental equilibrium. That Malvina with a wave of her wand--or whatever
the hocus-pocus may have been--would be able to transform the hitherto
incorrigibly indolent and easy-going Mrs. Arlington into a sort of
feminine Lloyd George, had not really entered into his calculations.

Forgetting his lunch, he must have wandered aimlessly about, not
returning home until late in the afternoon. During dinner he appears
to have been rather restless and nervous--"jumpy," according to the
evidence of the little serving maid. Once he sprang out of his chair
as if shot when the little serving maid accidentally let fall a
table-spoon; and twice he upset the salt. It was at mealtime that, as
a rule, the Professor found his attitude towards Malvina most
sceptical. A fairy who could put away quite a respectable cut from the
joint, followed by two helpings of pie, does take a bit of believing
in. To-night the Professor found no difficulty. The White Ladies had
never been averse to accepting mortal hospitality. There must always
have been a certain adaptability. Malvina, since that fateful night of
her banishment, had, one supposes, passed through varied experiences.
For present purposes she had assumed the form of a jeune fille of the
twentieth century (anno Domini). An appreciation of Mrs. Muldoon's
excellent cooking, together with a glass of light sound claret, would
naturally go with it.

One takes it that he could not for a moment get Mrs. Arlington out of
his mind. More than once, stealing a covert glance across the table,
it seemed to him that Malvina was regarding him with a mocking smile.
Some impish spirit it must have been that h