“Fin and all?”

“Complete.”

“You’re sure of it?”

“Certain.”

“How do you know?”

“I’m certain,” repeated Melville with a quite unusual testiness.

The lady reflected.

“Well, there are worse things in the world than a fishy tail,” she said at last.

Melville saw no necessity for a reply. “H’m,” said Lady Poynting Mallow, apparently by way of comment on his silence, and for a space they went on.

“That Glendower girl is a fool too,” she added after a pause.