s--a sect I despised. Everybody knows all about the
Pythagorean craze, its rise in Boston, its rapid spread, and its
subsequent consolidation with mental and Christian science, theosophy,
hypnotism, the Salvation Army, the Shakers, the Dunkards, and the
mind-cure cult, upon a business basis. I had hitherto regarded all
Pythagoreans with the same scornful indifference which I accorded to
the faith-curists; being a member of no particular church, I was
scarcely prepared to take any of them seriously. Least of all did I
approve of the 'business basis,' and I looked very much askance indeed
at the 'Scientific and Religious Trust Company,' duly incorporated and
generally known as the Pythagorean Trust, which, consolidating with
mind-curists, faith-curists, and other flourishing salvation
syndicates, actually claimed a place among ordinary trusts, and at the
same time pretended to a control over man's future life. No, I could
never listen--I was ashamed of even entertaining the notion, and I
shook my head.

"'No, Miss Wyeth, I am afraid I do not care to listen to any reasoning
on this subject.'

"'Don't you believe in Pythagoras?' demanded the professor, subduing
his excitement with difficulty, and adding another knot to his
coat-tails.

"'No,' I said, 'I do not.'

"'How do you know you don't?' inquired the professor.

"'Because,' I said, firmly, 'it is nonsense to say that the soul of a
human being can inhabit a hen!'

"'Put it in a more simplified form!' insisted the professor. 'Do you
believe that the soul of a hen can inhabit a human being?'

"'No, I don't!'

"'Did you ever hear of a hen-pecked man?' cried the professor, his
voice ending in a shout.

"I nodded, intensely annoyed.

"'Will you listen to reason, then?' he continued, eagerly.

"'No,' I began, but I caught Miss Wyeth's blue eyes fixed on mine with
an expression so sad, so sweetly appealing, that I faltered.

"'Yes, I will listen,' I said, faintly.

"'Will you become my pupil?' insisted the professor.

"I was shocked to find myself wavering, but my eyes were looking into
hers, and I could not disobey what I read there. The longer I looked
the greater inclination I felt to waver. I saw that I was going to
give in, and, strangest of all, my conscience did not trouble me. I
felt it coming--a sort of mild exhilaration took possession of me. For
the first time in my life I became reckless--I even gloried in my
recklessness.

"'Yes, yes,' I cried