in, and perhaps it would be as well just
to wait for a little, you know--just till the servants are out of the
room? They might perhaps think it a little odd."

"Yes," said Atherley, "and even unorthodox."

Mrs. Molyneux submitted to this interruption with the greatest sweetness
and composure, and dilated on the beauty of the new chair-covers till
Castleman and the footman had retired, when, with a coffee-cup instead
of a fan in her exquisite hand, she took up the thread of her
exposition.

"As I was saying, the distinction of this religion is that it has
nothing to do with God. Of course it has other great advantages, which I
will explain later, like its cultivation of a sixth sense, for
instance--"

"Do you mean common sense?"

"Jane, what am I to do with Sir George? He is really incorrigible. How
can I possibly explain things if you will not be serious?"

"I never was more serious in my life. Show me a religion which
cultivates common sense, and I will embrace it at once."

"It is just because I knew you would go on in this way that I do not
attempt to say anything about the supernatural side of this religion,
though it is very important and most extraordinary. I assure you, my
dear Jane, the powers that people develop under it are really
marvellous. I have friends who can see into another world as plainly as
you can see this drawing-room, and talk as easily with spirits as I am
talking with you."

"Indeed!" said Lady Atherley politely, with her eyes fixed anxiously on
something which had gone wrong with her knitting.

"Unfortunately, for that kind of thing you require to undergo such
severe treatment; my health would not stand it; the London season itself
is almost too much for me. It is a pity, for they all say I have great
natural gifts that way, and I should have so loved to have taken it up;
but to begin with, one must have no animal food and no stimulants, and
the doctors always tell me I require a great deal of both."

"Besides, _le jeu ne vaut pas la chandelle_," said Atherley, "if the
spirits you are to converse with are anything like those we used to meet
in your drawing-room."

"That is not the same thing at all; these were only spooks."

"Only what?"

"No, I will not explain; you only mean to make fun of it, and there is
nothing to laugh at. What I am trying to show you is that side of the
religion you will really approve--the unanthropomorphic side. It is not
anything like atheism, you