VI: CONFLAGRATION
Gleefully the devil took Mr. Bly back to watch the blaze, and they were huddled and squeezed and pressed in the crowd. A fat woman took a fancy to the devil and put her arm round his waist.
“Where are you living, old dear?” she said.
“You leave my pal alone,” said Nicholas Bly.
But the devil gave her a smacking kiss, and she slapped his face and giggled, saying:
“Geeh! That was a warm one that was.”
And she persisted until the devil had confessed his name to be Mr. Nicodemus. Then she said she had a snug little room in her house which he could have—his pal too if they were not to be separated.
Mr. Bly demurred, but Mr. Nicodemus said:
“You can only get at Jah through the women.”
So they pursued the adventure and went home with the fat woman, but when she reached her parlour she plumped down on her knees and said her prayers, and the devil vanished, and she was so enraged that she swept Nicholas Bly out with her broom. He hammered on her door and told her why his friend had vanished, and that if she would say her prayers backward he would return. She said her prayers backwards and Mr. Nicodemus returned.