The Prophet of Berkeley Square

t in all its bearings with Mrs. Fancy Quinglet, who had been his confidante for full thirty years. Mrs. Fancy-who had not been marri

ewhat incoherent and occasionally frenzied turn of mind. Argument could never at any time have had much effect upon her nature, and as she grew towards maturity its power over her most markedly decrease

many years often affectionately, and quite correctly, pronounced by Fancy Q

mean, ma'am?" she as

se, Beau-the dog. W

Fancy. "Is

n Beau, and you can pronounce it as

le to speak the word so strangely, so almost impiously, spelt. This she declared with tears. Persuasion and argument were unavailing. Henceforth Beau was always called by her "the dog," and

cy, to whom the Prophet now applied

eated in a small chamber opening out of Mrs. Merillia'

tering and closing the door c

he answered, darting the

ought-has it ever

Fancy replied, with the wea

roperly understood by her, and from such premature decisions as she hastened to give sh

out that he is a prophe

maid rattle

he answered. "Let it a

hat d'you me

can't speak differe

you expla

at have been wrecked, the homes tha

t from within by some feve

-" the Pro

Hennessey, and I

ecame fixed like that of a

e ejaculated. "I say again, as I did afore-the

o he thought it right to tell Mrs. Merillia, who was still steeped in bandages, of his intention. He therefore went straight to her room from Fancy Quinglet's. Mrs. Merillia was lying upon a couch reading a Russian novel. A cup of tea stood beside her upon a table n

ffice and we had that dreadful complication with Iceland. My dear boy, you are corrugated with thought and care. What is

d stroked Beau's sable

nce you were injured, grannie," he

ad a dangerous influence on young men. If you want to look at a

e. I believe she is in Hampshir

ent, but the corrugated ex

nk it my duty to make an e

n. What do you

ed hands over the other and slightl

rophecy. Has it ever occurred to you that among all our

that prophets always spring from the lower classes.

it at millio

If the nobodies continue to go everywhere the ver

e. Perhaps that is why we

in a shrewd smile that seemed to say "So ho!" She recognised a strange,

gently, "have always been incli

g. "Even Hammersmith is becomin' quite a fashionable neighbourhood. And you say that t

er, "I said he received letters t

goin' to fi

is afternoon at

postcard! And what sort of pe

uite out of

crewed up her e

inted. How many editions hav

yearly

l must be a

alkiel is Malki

sses at clubs and libraries, and sleep on doorsteps, or in the Park. Well, Hennessey, I see you are getting fidgety. You had better be

mother, put on his overcoat

ial day, and he resolved to

sly, and were rewarded with showers of pence from pedestrians delighting in the absence of mud. Crystal as some garden of an eternal city seemed the green Park, wrapped in its frosty mantle embroidered with sunbeams. Even the driv

n. People looked at him and thought that he must surel

ot below it. He saw beneath their rooves of ostrich feathers the girls shake their long ea

if you please?" he asked the

nd the engine warehouse, just opposite the place where t

library and glanced at its dirty window. He saw several letters lying against the glass.

d behind the counter, stroking his irregular profile with one hand, and throwing a box of J nibs into the air and catching it with the other. Upon the Prophet's entrance this youth obligingly dropped the nibs accident

re a few days ago with a not

n attitude of vital suspicion

, sir?" he replied in a

our medals. There was a crest on the envelope-an

r and resolution overspread the

no swarm of bees in here," h

ave remembered the circum

e don't allow things of them

gn, upon which a ray of sunshine im

Mr. Ma

young librarian, whose pinkish eyes

cond ever call

he young librarian,

act

bout in person.

th a literary sense that instinctively rejecte

id the young libraria

e choos

like Miss Partrid

s day-by chan

Thursday

ed the young librarian, his literary s

thin, middle-aged man walked in sideways with his

th?" he said in a hollow vo

ed the young librarian, moving with resp

and boots, and a black overcoat thrown open from top to bottom-these appurtenances, clerkly in their adherence to a certain convention, could not wholly disguise the emotional expression that seems sometimes to lurk in shape. The lines of Mr. Sagittarius defied their clothing. His shoulders gave the lie to the chocolate brown frock coat. His legs breathed def

ones and deep depressions, its sharp nose, extensive mouth and nervous chin. But the pale blue eyes that were its soul shone plaintively beneath their sha

" cried the young librarian

a hand covered with a

Frederick Sm

the building. But the P

ng librarian and accidentally let the half sovereign fall on the counter. It gave

," began the youth in his us

rds the door. The Prophet followed him up and got before him near the letter rack,

termination that he nearly caused the young librarian to swallow the Prophet's golden bribe. "I see you don't believe me," the Prophet continued, flushing pink but still holding his ground, and indeed trying to turn Mr. Sagittarius's flank by a strategic movement of almost military precision. "I see that plainly,

rack, under which reposed Miss Partridge's correspondence, and the newspaper bureau, with the c

moment!-envelope-crest-I only want to know if you ha

arm of bees," cried Mr. Sagittarius with every sym

, hastily pocketing the half sovereign and making a feverish l

culated the Prophet. "The

ainst the counter in an attitude of abandoned prostr

e handkerchief covered with a pattern of pink storks in flight. "I truste

eye. The young libraria

arius," he said. "If you hadn't a-kep' d

Prophet, who smiled at him reass

re, Mr. Sa

rayed by Jellybrand's," said that gentleman with

May I beg you to forgive my apparent anxiety to make your acquaintance, and implore you

Second rea

," he said. "The

ley Square," said t

hind the Kimmins's mews?" said

The one near G

had evidently made a good impression. "Kimmins's is no class at

leaning upon the counter in a tense, keyhole position, with his pr

r room," he murmured, in h

quare behind Kimmins's?" said Malki

certain

ybrand's has betrayed me Jellybrand's must abide the co

brarian whose memory had again become excellen

e the parlour,

r. Sagi

brand's must abide the full consequences o

rds a door of deal and ground glass w

ur, gents,

the Second, making a side step and bringin

did not perceive the journey of a second half sovereign from the person of the Prophet to that of the young librarian, who thereafter close