ist in New York, and as there was no
time to find one out, I boldly suggested that he should plunge into
still deeper depths of "folly," and accompany me to the house of Mrs
Stoddart Gray.

The usual performances went on, but whether owing to Dr Covernton's
attitude of mind or other causes, nothing of any special interest to him
or to me occurred.

One incident impressed him, I think; certainly he could suggest no
possible explanation of it, for it happened in a very fair amount of
light and close to our feet. A gentleman and lady were sitting in the
circle who had brought with them their little boy, a child of seven
years old. I had asked the lady if she considered it wise to bring so
young a child into such a _milieu_, several hours after an English child
would have been put to bed, and her answer was cheery and
characteristic:

"Well, I guess we shouldn't have much peace at home if we didn't bring
Charlie along with us to see his Granny. We took him once, and since
then he always insists upon coming. He loves talking to his Granny, and
he is not a bit afraid of her."

At this moment a small frail woman stepped out from the cabinet, and
came right up towards us, motioning to the little grandson that she
wished him to go into the cabinet with her. This he did without a
moment's hesitation, and the curtain fell, and concealed them both from
view. The interview lasted for some minutes, and when the little boy
reappeared, he was holding his Granny by the hand, and was evidently on
the best of terms with her. I do not expect my readers to believe me,
but this is exactly what happened next:

The child had brought some toys--a little train and some building
blocks--"to get Granny to play with him as usual," and the fragile old
lady knelt down on the floor, and played with him just as any ordinary
Granny might have done, only with far more agility.

In the very midst of their brick building and train starting, a terrible
catastrophe occurred, which spoilt the rest of the evening for the poor
child. Granny had evidently forgotten that her time was limited, by
conditions of which we are still profoundly ignorant.

Quite suddenly, and without a word of warning, she disappeared, not into
the cabinet at her back, but right through the carpet under our feet,
and well within a yard of the said feet, and this with two or three
gas-jets burning over our heads!

There was no mistake about it. Dr Covernton and I were sitting n