ovelling position.'

They approached the street where Earwaker had to alight. The other
declared his intention of driving on to Fulham in the hope of finding a
friend who lived there.

'But I must see you again. When shall you be home to-night?'

'About half-past eleven, I dare say.'

'Right! If I am free I'll come out to Staple Inn, and we'll talk till
three or four.'

The house at which the journalist presented himself was such as might
be inhabited by a small family of easy means. As he was taking off his
overcoat, a door opened and Christian Moxey came forward to greet him.
They shook hands like men who stood on friendly, but not exactly on
intimate, terms.

'Will you come up to the laboratory for a moment?' said Moxey. 'I
should like to show you something I have under the microscope.'

The room he spoke of was at the top of the house; two chambers had been
made into one, and the fittings were those required by a student of
physical science. Various odours distressed the air. A stranger to the
pursuits represented might have thought that the general disorder and
encumberment indicated great activity, but the experienced eye
perceived at once that no methodical work was here in progress.
Mineralogy, botany, biology, physics, and probably many other sciences,
were suggested by the specimens and apparatus that lay confusedly on
tables, shelves, or floor.

Moxey looked very slim and elegant in his evening costume. When he
touched any object, his long, translucent fingers seemed soft and
sensitive as a girl's. He stepped with peculiar lightness, and the
harmonious notes of his voice were in keeping with these other
characteristics. Ten years had developed in him that graceful languor
which at four-and-twenty was only beginning to get mastery over the
energies of a well-built frame.

'This stuff here,' he said, pointing to an open box full of mud, 'is
silt from down the Thames. It's positively loaded with
_diatomaceoe_,--you remember our talking about them when you were last
here? I am working at the fabric of the valves. Now, just look!'

Earwaker, with attentive smile, followed the demonstration.

'Peak is busy with them as well,' said Christian, presently. 'Has he
told you his theory of their locomotion? Nobody has found out yet how
the little beggars move about. Peak has a bright idea.'

They spent ten minutes in the laboratory, then went downstairs. Two
other guests had meanwhile arrived, and were conv