At this point the voice of Mr. Ferdinand remarked in the small of the Prophet’s back,—­

“Shall I set down the tea on the mat, sir, or—­”

The Prophet bounded into the library, tingling in every vein.  His panther-like entrance evidently took the two conversationalists aback, for Malkiel the Second, who had been plaintively promenading about the room, still on his toes according to the behest of Mr. Ferdinand, sat down violently on a small table as if he had been shot, while the contralto voice, which had been sitting on a saddle-back chair by the hearth, simultaneously bounced up; both these proceedings being carried out with the frantic promptitude characteristic of complete and unhesitating terror.

“I beg your pardon!” said the Prophet.  “I hope I haven’t disturbed you.”

Malkiel the Second leaned back, the contralto voice leaned forward, and both breathed convulsively.

“I really must apologise,” continued the Prophet.  “I fear I have startled you.”

His guests swallowed nothing simultaneously and mechanically drew out their handkerchiefs.  Then Malkiel feebly got up and the contralto voice feebly sank down again.

“I—­I thought I said sharp, sir,” remarked Malkiel, at length, with a great effort recovering himself.

“Wasn’t I sharp?” returned the Prophet.  “Will you present me?”

“Are you equal to it, my love?” inquired Malkiel, tenderly, to the contralto voice.

The contralto voice nodded hysterically.

“Madame Sagittarius, sir,” said Malkiel, turning proudly to the Prophet, “my wife, the mother of Corona and Capricornus.”

The Prophet bowed and the lady inclined herself, slightly protruding her elbows as she did so, as if just to draw attention to the fact that she was possessed of those appendages and could use them if necessary.

Madame Malkiel, or rather Madame Sagittarius, as she must for the present be called, was a smallish woman of some forty winters.  Her hair, which was drawn away intellectually from an ample and decidedly convex brow, was as black as a patent leather boot, and had a gloss upon it as of carefully-adjusted varnish.  Her eyes were very large, very dark and very prominent.  Her features were obstreperous and rippling, running from right to left, and her teeth, which were shaded by a tiny black moustache, gleamed in a manner that could scarcely be called natural.  She was attired in a black velvet gown trimmed with a very large quantity of beadwork, a bonnet adorned with purple cherries, green tulips and orange-coloured ostrich tips, a pelisse, to which bugles had been applied with no uncertain hand, and an opal necklace.  Her gloves were of white, her boots of black kid, the latter being furnished with elastic sides, and over her left wrist she carried a plush reticule, whose mouth was kept shut by a tightly-drawn scarlet riband.  On the left side of her pelisse reposed a round bouquet of violets about the size of a Rugby football.