e, don't let him come
here! I couldn't bear the sight of him."

Sypher looked inquiringly at Mrs. Oldrieve.

"It has been a great shock to me," said the gentle lady. "It will take time
to get over it. Perhaps he had better wait a little."

Sypher walked home in a wrathful mood. Ostracism was to be added to
Septimus's crown of martyrdom.

Perhaps, on the other hand, the closing of "The Nook" doors was
advantageous. He had dreaded the result of Cousin Jane's
cross-examination, as lying was not one of his friend's conspicuous
accomplishments. Soothed by this reflection he smoked a pipe, and took down
Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress" from his shelves.

While he was deriving spiritual entertainment from the great battle between
Christian and Apollyon and consolation from the latter's discomfiture,
Septimus was walking down the road to the post-office, a letter in his
hand. The envelope was addressed to "Mrs. Middlemist, White Star Co.'s S.S.
_Cedric_, Marseilles." It contained a blank sheet of headed note-paper and
the tail of a little china dog.

CHAPTER XVIII

As soon as a woman knows what she wants she generally gets it. Some
philosophers assert that her methods are circuitous; others, on the other
hand, maintain that she rides in a bee line toward the desired object,
galloping ruthlessly over conventions, susceptibilities, hearts, and such
like obstacles. All, however, agree that she is unscrupulous, that the wish
of the woman is the politely insincere wish of the Deity, and that she
pursues her course with a serene sureness unknown to man. It is when a
woman does not know what she wants that she baffles the philosopher just as
the ant in her aimless discursiveness baffles the entomologist. Of course,
if the philosopher has guessed her unformulated desire, then things are
easy for him, and he can discourse with certitude on feminine vagaries, as
Rattenden did on the journeyings of Zora Middlemist. He has the word of the
enigma. But to the woman herself her state of mind is an exasperating
puzzle, and to her friends, philosophic or otherwise, her consequent
actions are disconcerting.

Zora went to California, where she was hospitably entertained, and shown
the sights of several vast neighborhoods. She peeped into the Chinese
quarter at San Francisco, and visited the Yosemite Valley. Attentive young
men strewed her path with flowers and candy. Young women vowed her eternal
devotion. She came into touch with t