"Something that came in the night. I don"t know what it was. Light flashed from it."
"It sounds like a sort of comet, my darling," said Mr. Sagittarius, considerably perturbed. "We didn"t observe that the Crab was specially dressed, did we?"
"It had nothing on at all when we saw it," said Madame with growing agitation. "But whatever was this comet that flashed light? That"s what I want to get at."
"It was a dark thing that told me the Crab was dressed, that my grandmother had been with it and that its influence was inimical to her."
"A dark thing! That"s not a comet!" said Mr. Sagittarius.
"It vanished with a flash of light into the square."
"At what time did you observe it, sir?" asked Mr. Sagittarius, while Madame leaned forward, gazing with goggling eyes at the Prophet.
"At exactly half-past one."
"Did it stay long?"
"A few minutes only--but it made an impression upon me that I can never forget."
It had apparently also made a very great impression upon Mr. and Madame Sagittarius, who remained for some seconds staring fixedly at the Prophet without uttering a word. At last Mr. Sagittarius turned to Madame and said in a voice that shook with seriousness,--
"Can it be, Sophronia, that prophets ought to live in the central districts? Can it really be that the nearer they are to the Circus, and even to the Stores--"
"_O beatus illa_!" interjected Madame upon the pinions of a sigh.
"Yes, Sophronia, the Stores, the more clearly is the knowledge of the future vouchsafed to them? If it should prove to be so!"
Madame stared again upon the Prophet with a fixity and strained inquiry which made him shift in his seat.
"If it should!" she repeated, upon the lowest note of her lower register, which sounded, at that solemn moment, like the keynote of a dreamer. Then, with a sudden change of manner, she cried sharply,--
"Jupiter, you must accompany this gentleman back to the square to-day."
The Prophet started. So did Mr. Sagittarius.
"But--" they cried simultaneously.
"And you must share his night watch."
"But, my darling--"
"Or I will," cried Madame. "Which is it to be?"
"Mr. Sagittarius!" exclaimed the Prophet.
"Very well," said Madame. "Let mine be the weary task to wait and watch at home. _Fata feminus_. The mystery of the dressed Crab must be unveiled. Should this mysterious visitant again vouchsafe a prophetic message, a practical prophet must be at hand to receive it. Jupiter, this gentleman is not practical. This report"--she struck the paper on which the Prophet had dotted down his notes--"is badly written.
The cycloidal curve might have been made by a Board School child. The deductions drawn--_deductio ad absurdibus_--reveal no talent, none of the prophetic _feu de joie_ at all. But this mystery of the dressed Crab may mean much. Jupiter, you will accompany this gentleman back to London and you will a.s.sist him practically at the telescope to-night."
"Very well, my love. I will risk the personal danger, for your and the children"s--"
"But--but really--" began the Prophet. "I am very sorry, but--"
"Madame has spoken, sir," said Mr. Sagittarius, very solemnly.
"I know she has. But--yes, I know there are no buts in your dictionary, Madame, I know there aren"t--but I have an engagement to-night that I have sworn--"
"What engagement, sir?" said Mr. Sagittarius, sternly. "You have sworn to us. You must know that."
"I have sworn to almost everyone," cried the distracted Prophet. "But this swear--I mean this oath must be kept before yours."
"Before ours, sir?"
"It comes on before eleven. I keep my oath to you after it. I manage the two, don"t you see?"
"He will see that you manage the two, Mr. Vivian, I can a.s.sure you,"
said Madame, viciously. "Won"t you, Jupiter?"
"Certainly, my dear. What is the oath, sir, that you place before ours?"
"An oath to Miss Minerva," returned the Prophet, beginning to feel reckless, firm in the conviction that it was henceforth his destiny to be the very sport of Fate.
"Ha!" cried Mr. Sagittarius. "The double life!"
"Who is Miss Minerva, pray?" said Madame, shooting a very penetrating glance upon her husband.
"Your husband can tell you that," replied the Prophet, by no means without guile.
"Jupiter," cried Madame, "what is the meaning of this? Who is this person?"
Mr. Sagittarius looked exceedingly uncomfortable.
"My dear," he began, "she is a young fe--that is, a young wo--I should say--"
"A fe! A wo! Explain yourself, Jupiter!"
"She is a lady, my love."
"A lady! Do I know her?"
"I believe not, my dear."
"And do you?"
"No, my darling. That is--that is--"
"Yes, I suppose!" said Madame, with a very violent click.
"I can hardly say, Sophronia, that, I can"t indeed. I have met her, by accident, quite by accident I a.s.sure you, once or twice."