hat is a consummation which is not to be desired."

"You will see him soon?" asked Crashaw.

"To-day," returned Challis.

"And you will let me see you again, afterwards?"

"Certainly."

Crashaw still hesitated for a moment. "I might, perhaps, come with you,"
he ventured.

"On no account," said Challis.

II

Gregory Lewes was astonished at the long absence of his chief; he was
more astonished when his chief returned.

"I want you to come up with me to Pym, Lewes," said Challis; "one of my
tenants has been confounding the rector of Stoke. It is a matter that
must be attended to."

Lewes was a fair-haired, hard-working young man, with a bent for science
in general that had not yet crystallised into any special study. He had
a curious sense of humour, that proved something of an obstacle in the
way of specialisation. He did not take Challis's speech seriously.

"Are you going as a magistrate?" he asked; "or is it a matter for
scientific investigation?"

"Both," said Challis. "Come along!"

"Are you serious, sir?" Lewes still doubted.

"Intensely. I'll explain as we go," said Challis.

It is not more than a mile and a half from Challis Court to Pym. The
nearest way is by a cart track through the beech woods, that winds up
the hill to the Common. In winter this track is almost impassable, over
boot-top in heavy mud; but the early spring had been fairly dry, and
Challis chose this route.

As they walked, Challis went through the early history of Victor Stott,
so far as it was known to him. "I had forgotten the child," he said; "I
thought it would die. You see, it is by way of being an extraordinary
freak of nature. It has, or had, a curious look of intelligence. You
must remember that when I saw it, it was only a few months old. But even
then it conveyed in some inexplicable way a sense of power. Every one
felt it. There was Harvey Walters, for instance--he vaccinated it; I
made him confess that the child made him feel like a school-boy. Only,
you understand, it had not spoken then----"

"What conveyed that sense of power?" asked Lewes.

"The way it had of looking at you, staring you out of countenance,
sizing you up and rejecting you. It did that, I give you my word; it did
all that at a few months old, and without the power of speech. Only, you
see, I thought it was merely a freak of some kind, some abnormality that
disgusted one in an unanalysed way. And I thought it would die. I
certainly thought