"But you know of such a fact?" said the doctor, ignoring his host's tone.
"Possibly."
The voice of Valentine thrilled with triumph as he spoke the word. Again he glanced at the lady of the feathers.
"Cannot you convert the doctor?" he asked her, in tones full of sarcastic meaning. "You know something of my theories, something of their putting into practice."
"I don't know—I don't understand," she murmured helplessly.
She looked down at her plate, flushing scarlet with a sense of shame at her own complete mental impotence.
"What's the matter, Cuckoo?"
The words came slowly from the lips of Julian, whose heavy eyes were now raised and fixed with a stare of lethargic wonder upon Cuckoo.
"What are they saying to you?"
His look travelled on, still slow and unwieldy, to the doctor and to
Valentine.