me boy of twelve, with curling brown hair and blue
eyes.

"Hadria has told it hundreds of times, and you know it as well as she
does."

"But I want to hear it again--about the attack upon the keep, and the
shouting of the men, while the lady was up here starving to death."

But Algitha shook her head.

"We don't come up here to tell stories, we must get to business."

"Will you have the candle, or can you see?" asked Fred, the second
brother, a couple of years younger than Hadria, whom he addressed. His
features were irregular; his short nose and twinkling grey eyes
suggesting a joyous and whimsical temperament.

"I think I had better have the candle; my notes are very illegible."

Fred drew forth a candle-end from his pocket, stuck it into a
quaint-looking stand of antique steel, much eaten with rust, and set the
candle-end alight.

Algitha went into the next room and brought in a couple of chairs. Fred
followed her example till there were enough for the party. They all took
their places, and Hadria, who had been provided with a seat facing them,
and with a rickety wooden table that trembled responsively to her
slightest movement, laid down her notes and surveyed her audience. The
faces stood out strangely, in the lights and shadows of the garret.

"Ladies and gentlemen," she began; "on the last occasion on which the
Preposterous Society held its meeting, we had the pleasure of listening
to an able lecture on 'Character' by our respected member Demogorgon"
(the speaker bowed to Ernest, and the audience applauded). "My address
to-night on 'Fate' is designed to contribute further ideas to this
fascinating subject, and to pursue the enquiry more curiously."

The audience murmured approval.

"We were left at loggerheads, at the end of the last debate. I doubted
Demogorgon's conclusion, while admiring his eloquence. To-night, I will
put before you the view exactly contrary to his. I do not assert that I
hold this contrary view, but I state it as well as I am able, because I
think that it has not been given due consideration."

"This will be warm," Fred was heard to murmur with a chuckle, to an
adjacent sister. The speaker looked at her notes.

"I will read," she said, "a passage from Emerson, which states very
strikingly the doctrine that I am going to oppose."

Hadria held her paper aslant towards the candle-end, which threw a murky
yellow light upon the background of the garret, contrasting oddly with
the