"And then it is grim. There is an island full of dead people, who appear--"
"Ah! I know all about the stone coffins and the bones; Professor Endorwick told me, and he is coming north on purpose to explore all the antiquities. There he is in the crush with Cynthia Strong. I wonder when that will come off? Call them here, Eustace, and wisdom shall confound this Evil Prophet. Why, the professor, Mr. Lockhart, thinks Eilean-a-varai alone is sufficient inducement for a visit to Roederay."
"Eilean-a-varai--Isle of the Dead, you call it? We used to prefer another name: Eilean-a-fa-ash--Island of Rest. It lies right out in the sunset, like Avilion."
Lady Maud gave a little shiver.
"Oh no! that is ever so much more grim than the other. I hate things which--which appeal to the imagination."
"I am quite aware of it," he replied quietly; "hence my prophecy that Roederay will not suit you."
She sate playing with her fan idly. "Island of Rest indeed! There never was such a place--there never will be. Ah, professor, come like a good soul and do battle for civilization and culture. Are we not far better than the primitives of the North Pole? Are we not stronger, wiser, more original--"
The learned professor, being a little deaf, did not quite catch her words. He was, in addition, much given to the jocular style when addressing the weaker sex, which he held to have been created for the sole purpose of exercising the social qualities of man. So, an appropriate remark having occurred to him, he came forward primed with it.
"Charity, Lady Maud, is, as a rule said to cover a multitude of sins; in this case it conceals the virtues."
And he was greatly pleased with himself when everybody laughed.