The Prophet of Berkeley Square

erkeley Square. It pointed towards the remarkably bright stars which twinkled in the December sky over frosty London, those guardian s

as not oblivious of a belted earl's cosy red-brick home just opposite, and the house of a certain

arefully, placed a copy of Mr. Malkiel's Almanac, bound in dull pink and silver brocade by Miss Clorinda Dolbrett of the Cromwell Road, upon a small tulip-wood table near the telescope, pa

Here might be seen Mrs. Prothero, the great ship-builder's faithful wife, in blue brocade, and Lady Camptown, who reigned at Bath, in grey tabinet and diamond buckles, when Miss Jane Austen was writing her first romance; Mrs. Susan Burlington, who knew Lord Byron-a remarkable fact-and Lady Sophia Green, who knew her own mind, a fact still more remarkable. The last-named lady wore black with a Roman nose, and the combination was admirably convincing. Here might also be observed Mrs. Stuefitt, Mistress of the Mazurka, and the Lady Jane Follington, of whom George the Second had spoken openly in terms of approbation. She affected

most sweetly perfumed, from his daily life. The hearth of this agreeable and grandmotherly chamber was attractive with dogs, the silver cage beside it with green love-birds. Upon the floor

ith most delicate ribands of ivory satin powdered with pimpernels, in another. Many waxen candles shed a tender and unostentatious radiance above their careful grease-catchers. Upon pretty tables lay neat books by Fanny Burney, Beatrice Harraden, Mary

the finely-carved oak door was opened, and the Prophet seriously entered this p

ovements light and temperate as those of a meditative squirrel. Having just dined he was naturally in evening dress, with a butterfly tie, gleaming pumps, and a buttonhole of violets. He shut the door gently, glanced at his nice-looking grandmothers, and, walking forward very quietly and demurely, applied his eye to the tele

eared, looking re

eply to my inquiry, Mr. Fer

replied Mr. Ferdina

senger say he de

ir, on his Bib

you beli

n a shocked voice, "surely a London l

and. Still-did he look

e gills-but a heart of gold, sir, I

e been frightened to go to Mr. Malkiel

nd retire when the Prophet, afte

Gaiety Theatre to-night. I expect her back at half

sir! Mrs. M

uminous eyes shon

he may-have to b

at the knees and was obliged to cling

y and tell Gustavus to sit up. Mrs. Merillia must not b

nd, seating himself in a corner of the big couch by the fire, crossed his legs one over the other and began to read that timid Ancient's consolatory, but unconvin

his time, we must say

essey had passed his infantine years, blowing happy bubbles, presiding over the voyages of his own private Noah-from the Army and Navy Stores, with two hundred animals of both sexes!-eating pap prepared by Mrs. Merillia's own chef, and sleeping in a cot hung with sunny silk that might have curtained Venus or have shaken about Aurora as she rose in the first morning of the world. From her he had acquired the alphabet and many a ginger-nut and decorative bonbon. And from her, too, he had set forth, with tears, in his new Eton jacket and broad white collar, to go to Mr. Chapman's preparatory school for little boys at Slough. Here he remained for several years, acquiring a respect fo

nto London Society showed no puling regret, no backward longings after echoing colleges, lost dons and the scouts that are no more. He was quite at his ea

equer on the other, electric light, several bathrooms and the gramophone. There was never any question of the Prophet setting up house by himself. On leaving Oxford he joined his ample fortune to Mrs. Merillia's as a matter of course, and they settled down together wi

mouth. The third daughter of the London clergyman-his sentiment for her-had taught his hand the slightly episcopal gesture which was so admired at the Lambeth Palace Garden Party in the summer of 1892. And the great race meeting was responsible for the rather tight trousers and the gentleman-jockey smile which he was wont to assume when he set out for a canter in the Row. From all this it will be guessed that our Prophet was exceedingly amenable to the influences that throng at the heels of the human destiny. Indeed, he was. And some

Sir Tiglath) had lost his voice and was unlikely to find it in conversation, the Prophet was greatly impressed by the astronomer's enormous brick-red face, round body, turned legs, eyes like marbles, and ca

phases of Venus. These last she at first declined to discuss with a man, even though he were her grandson. But she was won over by the Prophet's innocent persuasiveness, and drawn on until she spoke almost as readily of the movements of the stars as formerly she had spoken of the movements of the Court from Windsor to London, and from London to Balmoral. In truth, she expected that Hennessey's passion for the comets would cease as had ceased his passion for the clergyman's daughter; that his ardour for astronomy would die as had

d, but, if she had, she might well have been led to do so. And even as it was she had been reduced to so unusual a condition of dejection that, a week before the evening we are describing, she had been obliged to order a box at the Gaiety Theatre, she,

, a Mistress of the Robes, and the grandfather of the Central American Ambassador at the Court of St. James, and all four of them were smiling at a

considering whether Mrs. Merillia, on her return from this

h

hero's life, to the point when first he began t

but thoughtlessly, and without any previous examination into the clericalism of rectory females, any first-hand knowledge of mothers' meetings, devoid of which he must be a stout-hearted gentleman who would rush in where even curates often fear to tread. He had been to the Derby, but without wearing a bottle-green veil or carrying a betting-book. In fact, he had not taken life very seriously, or fully appreciated the solemn

y, a discreet and even humble forecast of the weather. He predicted a heavy fall of snow for a certain evening, and so distrusted his own prediction that when the evening came, mild and benign, he sallied forth to the Empire Palace of Varieties, and stayed till near midnight, laughing at the sallies of French clowns, and applauding the frail antics of cockatoos on motor bicycles. When, on the stroke of twelve, he came airily forth wrapped in the lightest of dust coats, he was obliged to e

on of the planets, he gathered, to his horror, that upon the fifteenth day of the month of January she would suffer an accident while on an evening jaunt. We find him now, on this fifteenth day of the first mon

unconstrained use of all her graceful limbs. He was, therefore, torn by foes in a mental conflict, and was in no case to sip the philosop

and reading a new and unabridged farthing edition of Carlyle's French Revolution, "Gustavus, Mrs. Merillia has been and gone

ler which he was in the act o

d!" he ejaculated. "Mrs.

may-have to be carri

the French Revolution flut

and!" he exclaimed (not

tavus. Mrs. Merillia must not be dropped

round of beef and a tureen of pickled cabbage, while Gustavus got up from the what-not in a bemused manner, and proceeded to search dreamily for an armc

ed his discussion with the upper housemaid, and the former rapidly came down, th

held an electric lamp. His hand was laid upon the back of the armchair, and his rou

Ferdinand?" said th

, sir," repli

ou please," said the Prophet. "Mrs. Meri

dropped,

e was heard to stop outside. Mr. Ferdinand flung open the

he cried

smart brougham, but before he could reach the pavement, a charming head, covered with a

rubbish! Saturn don't know w

heerful pointed nose, rosy cheeks, and chestnut hair-that almost mightn't have been a wig in certain lights-prepared to leap for

the step of the carriage to the pavement, had twisted her pretty ankle, had reeled and almost fallen, had been caught by the Prophet and Mr. Ferdinand, borne tenderly into the hall, and pla

my own doin' and yours. You shouldn't have prophesi

, on his knees beside her, "how grie

ed, Hen

odded. Gustavus let his powdered head d

ou in the dr

arms of the chair, and gave a little wriggle, t

carried up. M

a'

vus to be

stavus, who had assumed an expression of pale and pa

to rummage in the pocket of his black

. Merillia, patting her delicate hands

xtended his right arm, bent it sharply, and allowed his magnificen

om, then," she said. "Henne

her tiny feet dangling loosely in mid-air, while her long and elegant head nodded each time Mr. Ferdinand and Gustavus pranced carefully sideways to a hig

when she found herself being smoothly propell

yed with breath

toast and water and a fan, if you pleas

rophet, when the men had reti

nessey.

a's green ey

I

and I shall have to lie up presently in wet bandages. Tell me, ar

to the telescope that pointed

grieved," the Prophet ans

sittin' here now in a perfect condition of he

said the Prophet. But

ndwich and the fan. When he had trodden across th

c business is leadin' you. It has made

mmon sense. And she nodded at him over her toast and water with a chaffing,

possible. It can't be." But the statem

velvet stool. "If I hadn't had an accident to-night, you'd have been obliged to think il

aturn and Venus," said the Prop

n' to do with it. Weigh me in the balance against five planets-ar

s twinkling through the frosty window-panes. He thought of his telescope, of Sir Tiglath, of Mr. M

s, for often it can cause its own fulfilment. If you hadn't said that because of a certain conjunction of planets-or whatever it was-in my horoscope, I sh

take in your horoscope. I did, really. I was so nervous that I sent to Mr. Malkiel w

Who is he? D

now his marve

a myth, Hennessey, a number of people, a com

ough a detective agency-and I have discovered that he

an then! Is he i

t, I have had great difficulty in learning anything about him. But at length I

. Where

ndred Z, Shaftesbury Avenue. I s

receive

iving Mr. Malkiel's name on the envelope, have thrown the note down a grating, and bolted before he reached the place, though he

my ankle will be swelled beyond recogniti

ed to rise and to lean upon his anxious arm. After a struggle, however, in whic

she said. "Mr. Ferdinand and Gustav

ssion was re-formed, and Mrs. Merillia was carried to bed, still smil

the basement after the completion of thei

the missis wouldn't be able to put foot to

and globe-like head, round whose bald cupola the jet-black hair was brushe

tretching out one hand for pale ale, the ot

preparing to resume his discussion with

and," said Gustavus, lifting the glass to

red Mr. Ferdinand, leaving out the "l

upiter, Saturn and Venus, while, on the second floor, Mrs. Fancy Quinglet, Mrs. Merillia's devoted, but occasiona