THE ELABORATE MIND OF MISS MINERVA
On being shown, by an elderly housekeeper with a Berlin wool fringe, into an old-fashioned oval book-room, Lady Enid and the Prophet discovered the astronomer sitting there /tete-a-tete/ with a muffin, which lay on a china plate surrounded by manuscripts, letters, pamphlets, books and blotting-paper.He was engaged in tracing lines upon an immense sheet of foolscap with the aid of a ruler and a pair of compasses, and when he perceived his visitors, he merely rolled his glassy eyes at them, shook his large head as if in rebuke, and then returned to his occupation without uttering a word.
Lady Enid was in nowise abashed.She looked more sensible even than usual, and at once commenced her campaign by the remark,--"I know you wonder why I wanted to see you this afternoon, Sir Tiglath.
Well, I'll tell you at once.Mr.Vivian has persuaded me to act as his ambassador."At this very unexpected statement the Prophet started, and was about to utter what might, perhaps, have taken the form of a carefully-worded denial, when Lady Enid made a violent face at him, and proceeded, in a calm manner.
"He wishes you to do something for him, and he has confessed to me that he does not quite like to ask you himself."On hearing these words the Prophet's brain, already sorely tried by the tragic duel which had taken place between himself and the couple who lived beside the Mouse, temporarily collapsed.He attempted no protest.
His mind indeed was not in a condition to invent one.He simply sat down on a small pile of astronomical instruments which, with some scientific works, an encyclopaedia and a pair of carpet slippers, occupied the nearest chair, and waited in a dazed manner for what would happen next.
Sir Tiglath continued measuring and drawing lines with a very thin pen, and Lady Enid proceeded further to develop her campaign.
"Mr.Vivian tells me," she said, "that he has a very old and dear friend who is most anxious to make your acquaintance--not, of course, for any idle social purpose, but in order to consult you on some obscure point connected with astronomy that only you can render clear.
Isn't this so, Mr.Vivian?"
The Prophet shifted uneasily on the astronomical instruments, and, grasping the carpet slippers with one hand to steady himself, in answer to an authoritative sign from Lady Enid, feebly nodded his head.
"But," Lady Enid continued, apparently warming to her lies, "Mr.Vivian and his friend, knowing how much your time is taken up by astronomical research and how intensely valuable it is to the world at large, have not hitherto dared to intrude upon it, although they have wished to do so for a very long time, and have even made one attempt--at the Colley Cibber Club."The Prophet gasped.Sir Tiglath took a bit out of the muffin and returned to his tracing and measuring.
"On that occasion you may remember," Lady Enid went on with increasing vivacity and assurance, "you declined to speak.This naturally damped Mr.Vivian--who is very sensitive, though you might not think it"--here she cast a glance at the instruments on which the Prophet sat--"and his friend.So much so, in fact, that unless I had undertaken to act for them I daresay they would have let the matter drop.Wouldn't you, Mr.
Vivian?" she added swiftly to the Prophet.
"Certainly," he answered, like a creature in a dream."Certainly.""More especially as the friend, Mrs.Vane Bridgeman"--the Prophet at this point made an inarticulate, but very audible, noise that might have meant anything, and that did in fact mean "Merciful Heavens! what will become of me?"--"Mrs.Vane Bridgeman is also of a very retiring disposition and would hate to put such a man as you are to the slightest inconvenience."Sir Tiglath took another bite at the muffin, which seemed to be getting the worst of the /tete-a-tete/, rummaged among the mess of things that loaded his table till he found a gigantic book, opened it, and began to compare some measurements in it with those he had made on the foolscap paper.His brick-red face glistened in the light of the lamp that stood beside him.His moist red lips shone, and he seemed totally unaware that there was anyone in the chamber endeavouring to gain his attention.
"In these circumstances, Sir Tiglath," Lady Enid went on, with pleasant ease, and a sort of homespun self-possession that trumpeted, like a military band, her sensibleness, "Mr.Vivian consulted me as to what to do; whether to give the whole thing up, or to make an appeal to you at the risk of disturbing you and taking up a little of your precious time.When he had explained the affair to me, however, I at once felt certain that you would wish to know of it.Didn't I, Mr.Vivian? Didn't I say, only this afternoon, that we must at once take a four-wheeler to Sir Tiglath's?""Yes, you did," said the Prophet, in a muffled voice.
"For I knew that no investigation, no serious, reverent investigation into heavenly, that is starry, conditions could be indifferent to you, Sir Tiglath."The astronomer, who had been in the act of lifting the last morsel of the muffin to his mouth, put it down again, and Lady Enid, thus vehemently encouraged, went on more rapidly.
"You know of Mr.Vivian's interest, almost more than interest, in the planets.This interest is shared, was indeed prompted by Mrs.
Bridgeman, a woman of serious attainments and a cultivated mind.Isn't she, Mr.Vivian?"The Prophet heard a voice reply, "Oh, yes, she is." He often wondered afterwards whether it was his own.
"It seems that she, during certain researches, hit upon an idea with regard to--well, shall I say with regard to certain stars?--which she communicated to Mr.Vivian in the hope that he would carry it further, and in fact clear it up.Didn't she, Mr.Vivian?""Oh, yes, she did," said a voice, to which the Prophet again listened with strained attention.
