This announcement met with vigorous applause, and an air of eager interest at once pervaded the audience.
Miss Walton waited patiently until quiet was restored, then resumed:
"First I will read an original conundrum which is propounded by one of our members, and which you are requested to solve."
Everyone was at once on the alert.
"My first," read the chairman, "is a state of oblivion.
"My second is what comes to all things mundane.
"My third appertains to articulation, to a form of surgery, and to a profession.
"My fourth is applied to certain theories and fanatical tenets.
"My whole is a term employed to designate a certain form of philosophy which is also often misconstrued and misapplied."
As Miss Walton was about to lay down her paper she was asked to read the conundrum again, which she did, while pencils were busy taking notes; then she observed: