age an unguessable
secret. He might have been in the thirties or he might have been in the
fifties.

"With regard to these ladies' bicycles, miss--" he began with a
lecturer's air.

But by this time Cicely was also an expert in side-tracking her friend's
theoretical essays.

"Oh, how clever of you!" she exclaimed rapturously. "It looks as good as
ever!"

The interruption was too gratifying to offend.

"Better in some ways," he said complacently. "The principle of these
things is----"

"I did miss it this morning," she hurried on. "In fact I had to have
quite a long walk. Luckily Mr. Cromarty of Stanesland gave me a lift
coming home."

"Oh, indeed, miss? Stanesland gave ye a lift, did he? An interesting
gentleman yon."

This time she made no effort to divert Mr. Bisset's train of thought.

"You think Mr. Cromarty interesting, then?" said she.

"They say he's hanged a man with his ain hands," said Bisset
impressively.

"What!" she cried.

"For good and sufficient reason, we'll hope, miss. But whatever the way
of it, it makes a gentleman more interesting in a kin' of way than the
usual run. And then looking at the thing on general principles, the
theory of hanging is----"

"Oh, but surely," she interrupted, "that isn't the only reason why Mr.
Cromarty--I mean why you think he is interesting?"

"There's that glass eye, too. That's very interesting, miss."

She still seemed unsatisfied.

"His glass eye! Oh--you mean it has a story?"

"Vera possibly. He says himself it was done wi' a whisky bottle, but
possibly that's making the best of it. But what interests me, miss,
about yon eye is this----"

He paused dramatically and she enquired in an encouraging voice:

"Yes, Bisset?"

"It's the principle of introducing a foreign substance so near the man's
brain. What's glass? What's it consist of?"

"I--I don't know," confessed Cicely weakly.

"Silica! And what's silica? Practically the same as sand! Well now if ye
put a handful of sand into a man's brain--or anyhow next door to it,
it's bound to have some effect, bound to have some effect!"

Bisset's voice fell to a very serious note, and as he was famous for the
range of his reading and was generally said to know practically by heart
"The People's Self-Educator in Science and Art," Cicely asked a little
apprehensively:

"But what effect can it possibly have?"

"It might take him different ways," said the philosopher cautiously
though sombrely. "