"You have your idea?" he asked.
"I have it. Happy ending! Hurrah!"
Miss Martin spun round like a dancing Dervish, and finally fell into another arm-chair, overcome by the heat and the intoxication of genius.
"We owe a candle to Saint Alexander Borgia!" she said, when she recovered her breath.
"Miss Martin," said Merton gravely, "this is a serious matter. You are not going, I trust, to poison the lemons for the elder Mr. Warren"s lemon squash? He is strictly Temperance, you know."
"Poison the lemons? With a hypodermic syringe?" asked Miss Martin. "No; that is good business. I have made one of my villains do _that_, but that is not my idea. Perfectly harmless, my idea."
"But sensational, I fear?" asked Merton.
"Some very cultured critics might think so," the lady admitted. "But I am sure to succeed, and I hear the merry, merry wedding bells of the Bulcester tabernacle ringing a peal for the happy pair."
"Well, what is the plan?"
"That is my secret."
"But I _must_ know. I am responsible. Tell me, or I telegraph to Mr.
Warren: "Lecturer never vaccinated; sorry for my mistake.""
"That would not be true," said Miss Martin.
"A n.o.ble falsehood," said Merton.
"But I a.s.sure you that if my plan fails no harm can possibly be caused or suspected. And if it succeeds then the thing is done: either Mr. Warren is reconciled to the marriage, or--the marriage is broken off, as he desires."
"By whom?"
"By the Conscientious Objectrix, if that is the feminine of Objector--by Miss Jane Truman."
"Why should Jane break it off if the old gentleman agrees?"
"Because Jane would be a silly girl. Mr. Merton, I will promise you one thing. The plan shall not be tried without the approval of the lover himself. None but he shall be concerned in the affair."
"You won"t hypnotise the girl and let him vaccinate her when she is in the hypnotic sleep?"
"No, nor even will I give her a post-hypnotic suggestion to vaccinate herself, or go to the doctor"s and have it done when she is awake; though," said Miss Martin, "that is not bad business either. I must make a note of that. But I can"t hypnotise anybody. I tried lots of girls when I was at St. Ursula"s and nothing ever came of it. Thank you for the idea all the same. By the way, I first must sterilise the pontifical--" She paused.
"The what?"
"That is my secret! Don"t you see how safe it is? None but the lover shall have his and her fate in his hands. _C"est a prendre ou a laisser_."
Merton was young and adventurous.
"You give me your word that your idea is absolutely safe and harmless? It involves no crime?"
"None; and if you like," said Miss Martin, "I will bring you the highest professional opinion," and she mentioned an eminent name in the craft of healing. "He was our doctor when we were children," said the lady, "and we have always been friends."
"Well," Merton said, "what is good enough for Sir Josiah Wilkinson is good enough for me. But you will bring me the doc.u.ment?"
"The day after to-morrow," said Miss Martin, and with that a.s.surance Merton had to be content.
Sir Josiah was almost equally famous in the world as a physician and, in a smaller but equally refined circle, as a virtuoso and collector of objects of art. His opinions about the beneficent effects of vaccination were known to be at the opposite pole from those of the intelligent population of Bulcester.
On the next day but one Miss Martin again entertained Merton at her club, and demurely presented him with three doc.u.ments. These were Mr. Warren"s invitation, her reply in acceptance, and a formal signed statement by Sir Josiah that her scheme was perfectly harmless, and commanded his admiring approval.
"Now!" said Miss Martin.
"I own that I don"t like it," said Merton. "Logan thinks that it is all right, but Logan is a born conspirator. However, as you are set on it, and as Sir Josiah"s opinion carries great weight, you may go. But be very careful. Have you written your lecture?"
"Here is the scenario," said Miss Martin, handing a typewritten synopsis to Merton.
"USE AND ABUSE OF NOVELS.
"All good things capable of being abused. Alcohol not one of these; alcohol _always_ pernicious. Fiction, on the other hand, a good thing. Antiquity of fiction. In early days couched in verse.
Civilisation prefers prose. Fiction, from the earlier ages, intended to convey Moral Instruction. Opinion of Aristotle defended against that of Plato. Morality in mediaeval Romance. Criticism of Mr.
Frederic Harrison. Opinion of Moliere. Yet French novels usually immoral, and why. Remarks on Popery. To be avoided. Morality of Richardson and of Sir Walter Scott. Impropriety re-introduced by Charlotte Bronte. Unwillingness of Lecturer to dwell on this Topic.
The Novel is now the whole of Literature. The people have no time to read anything else. Responsibilities of the Novelist as a Teacher.
The Novel the proper vehicle of Theological, Scientific, Social, and Political Instruction. Mr. Hall Caine, Miss Corelli. Fallacy of thinking that the Novel should Amuse. Abuse of the Novel as a source of mischievous and false Opinions. Case of _The Woman Who Did_.
Sacredness of Marriage. Study of the Novel becomes an abuse if it leads to the Neglect of the Morning and Evening Newspapers. Sir Walter Besant on the Novel. None but the newest Novels ought to be read. Mr. W. D. Howells on this subject. Experience of the Lecturer as a Novelist. Gratifying letters from persons happily influenced by the Lecturer. Anecdotes. Case of Miss A--- C---. Case of Mr. J--- R---. Unhappy Endings demoralising. Marriage the true End of the Novel, but the beginning of the happy life. Lecturer wishes her audience happy Endings and true Beginnings. Conclusion."
"Will _that_ do?" asked Miss Martin anxiously.
"Yes, if you don"t exceed your plan, or run into chaff."
"I won"t," said Miss Martin. "It is all chaff, but they won"t see it."
"I think I would drop that about Popery," said Merton--"it may lead to letters in the newspapers; and _do_ be awfully careful about impropriety in novels."
"I"ll put in "Vice to be Condemned, not Described,"" said Miss Martin, pencilling a note on the margin of her paper.
"That seems safe," said Merton. "But it cuts out some of our most powerful teachers."
"Serve them right!" said Miss Martin. "Teachers! the arrant humbugs."
"You will report at once on your return?" said Merton. "I shall be on tenter-hooks till I see you again. If I knew what you are really about, I"d take counsel"s opinion. Medical opinion does not satisfy me: I want legal."
"How nervous you are!" said Miss Martin. "Counsel would be rather stuck up, I think; it is a new kind of case," and the lady laughed in an irritating way. "I"ll tell you what I"ll do," she said. "I"ll telegraph to you on the Monday morning after the lecture. If everything goes well, I"ll telegraph, "Happy ending." If anything goes wrong--but it can"t--I"ll telegraph, "Unhappy ending.""
"If you do, I shall be off to Callao.
"_On no condition_ _Is Extradition_ _Allowed in Callao_!"
said Merton.
"But if there is any uncertainty--and there _may_ be," said Miss Martin, "I"ll telegraph, "Will report.""