Now the rivals stood about equal.  No one knew how the battle would go.  Adam did not know.  Ralph did not know.  Florence assuredly did not know.  Mr Bostock was quite certain, of a night, that Adam would win, but the next morning he was quite certain that his nephew would win.

No wonder that the tea-party, every member of it tremendously preoccupied by the great battle, was not distinguished by light and natural gaiety.  Great battles cannot be talked about till they are over and the last shot fired.  And it is not to be expected that people should be bright when each knows the others to be deeply preoccupied by a matter which must not even be mentioned.  The tea-party was self-conscious, highly.  Therefore, it ate too many cakes and chocolate, and forgot to count its cups of tea.  The conversation nearly died of inanition several times, and at last it actually did die, and the quartette gazed in painful silence at its corpse.  Anyone who has assisted at this kind of a tea-party will appreciate the situation.  Why, Adam Tellwright himself was out of countenance.  To his honour, it was he who first revived the corpse.  A copy of the previous evening’s Signal was lying on an empty deck-chair.  It had been out all night, and was dampish.  Tellwright picked it up, having finished his tea, and threw a careless eye over it.  He was determined to talk about something.

“By Jove!” he said.  “That Balsamo johnny is coming to Hanbridge!”

“Yes, didn’t you know?” said Florence, agreeably bent on resuscitating the corpse.

“What!  The palmistry man?” asked Mr Bostock, with a laugh.

“Yes.”  And Adam Tellwright read:  “’Balsamo, the famous palmist and reader of the future, begs to announce that he is making a tour through the principal towns, and will visit Hanbridge on the 22nd inst., remaining three days.  Balsamo has thousands of testimonials to the accuracy of his predictions, and he absolutely guarantees not only to read the past correctly, but to foretell the future.  Address:  22 Machin Street, Hanbridge. 10 to 10.  Appointment advisable in order to avoid delay.’  There!  He’ll find himself in prison one day, that gentleman will!”

“It’s astounding what fools people are!” observed Mr Bostock.

“Yes, isn’t it!” said Adam Tellwright.

“If he’d been a gipsy,” said Ralph Martin, savagely, “the police would have had him long ago.”  And he spoke with such grimness that he might have been talking of Adam Tellwright.

“They say his uncle and his grandfather before him were both thought-readers, or whatever you call it,” said Florence.

“Do they?” exclaimed Mr Bostock, in a different tone.

“Oh!” exclaimed Adam, also in a different tone.

“I wonder whether that’s true!” said Ralph Martin.

The rumour that Balsamo’s uncle and grandfather had been readers of the past and of the future produced of course quite an impression on the party.  But each recognized how foolish it was to allow oneself to be so impressed in such an illogical manner.  And therefore all the men burst into violent depreciation of Balsamo and of the gulls who consulted him.  And by the time they had done with Balsamo there was very little left of him.  Anyhow, Adam Tellwright’s discovery in the Signal had saved the tea-party from utter fiasco.