necessary, conceivably estimable; but, madam,
would you call it Christian?'

'Sir----' said Mrs. Harvey-Browne.

'Having noticed by your accent, madam, that the excellent German you
speak was not originally acquired in our Fatherland, but must be the
result of a commendable diligence practised in the schoolrooms of your
youth and native land, and having further observed, from certain
unmistakable signs, that the native land in question must be England, it
would have a peculiar interest for me to be favoured with the exact
meaning the inhabitants of that enlightened country attach to the term.
My income having hitherto not been sufficient to enable me to visit its
hospitable shores, I hail this opportunity with pleasure of discussing
questions that are of importance to us all with one of its, no doubt,
most distinguished daughters.'

'Sir----' said Mrs. Harvey-Browne.

'At first sight,' went on the man in spectacles, 'one would be disposed
to say that a Christian is a person who believes in the tenets of the
Christian faith. But belief, if it is genuine, must necessarily find its
practical expression in works. How then, madam, would you account for
the fact that when I look round me in the provincial town in which I
pursue the honourable calling of a pedagogue, I see numerous Christians
but no works?'

'Sir, I do not account for it,' said Mrs. Harvey-Browne angrily.

'For consider, madam, the lively faith inspired by other creeds. Place
against this inertia the activity of other believers. Observe the
dervish, how he dances; observe the fakir, hanging from his hook----'

'I will not, sir,' said Mrs. Harvey-Browne, roused now beyond endurance;
'and I do not know why you should choose this place and time to thrust
your opinions on sacred subjects on a stranger and a lady.'

With which she turned her back on him, and shuffled away with all the
dignity the felt slippers allowed.

The man in spectacles stood confounded.

'The lady,' I said, desirous of applying balm, 'is the wife of a
clergyman'--(Heavens, if she had heard me!)--'and is therefore afraid of
talking about things that must lead her on to sacred ground. I think you
will find the son very intelligent and ready to talk.'

But I regret to say the man in spectacles seemed extremely shy of me;
whether it was because the custodian had taken me for his wife, or
because I was an apparently unattached female wandering about and
drinking coffee by myself contr