t those tasks as it were by heart, but I went through the
rites like an automaton; my mind was elsewhere, intensely dogging the
heels of that winged steed, my fancy, panting in its tracks, and
perfectly content so only that it did not come up too late to witness
the glories which its bold flights discovered. Thanks to it--all
thanks to it--I did not become a nympholept. I did not haunt
Parliament Hill o' nights. I did not spy upon the darkling motions of
Mrs. Ventris. Desire, appetite, sex were not involved at all in this
affair; nor yet was love. I was very prone to love, but I did not love
Mrs. Ventris. In whatsoever fairy being I had seen there had been
nothing which held physical attraction for me. There could be no
allure when there was no lure. So far as I could tell, not one of
these creatures--except Quidnunc, and possibly the Dryad, the sun-dyed
nymph I had seen long ago in K---- Park--had been aware of my
presence. I guessed, though I did not know (as I do now) that
manifestation is not always mutual, but that a man may see a fairy
without being seen, and conversely, a fairy may be fully aware of
mankind or of some man or men without any suspicion of theirs.
Moreover, though I saw them all extraordinarily beautiful, I had never
yet seen one supremely desirable. The instinct to possess, which is an
essential part of the love-passion of every man--had never stirred in
me in the presence of these creatures. If it had I should have
yielded to it, I doubt not, since there was no moral law to hold me
back. But it never had, so far, and I was safe from the wasting misery
of seeking that which could not, from its very nature (and mine) be
sought.

There was really nothing I could do, therefore, but wait, and that is
what I did. I waited intensely, very much as a terrier waits at the
hole of the bolting rabbit. By the merest accident I got a clew to a
very interesting case which added enormously to my knowledge. It was a
clear case of fairy child-theft, the clearest I ever met with. I shall
devote a chapter to it, having been at the pains to verify it in all
particulars. I did not succeed in meeting the hero, or victim of it,
because, though the events related took place in 1887, they were not
recorded until 1892, when the record came into my hands. By that time
the two persons concerned had left the country and were settled in
Florida. I did see Mr. Walsh, the Nonconformist Minister who
communicated the tale to his l