THE PROPHET IS INTERVIEWED BY TWO KIDS
Mr. Ferdinand met the Prophet in the hall.
“I have done as you directed, sir,” he said respectfully.
“As I directed, Mr. Ferdinand? I was not aware that I ever directed anybody,” replied the Prophet, suspecting irony.
“I understood you to say, sir, that if any more telegrams was to arrive, I was to burn them, sir.”
“Telegrams! Good Heavens! You don’t mean to say that—”
“There has been some seventeen or eighteen, sir. I have burnt them, sir, to ashes, according to your orders.”
“Quite right, Mr. Ferdinand,” said the Prophet, putting his hand up to his hair, to feel if it were turning grey. “Quite right. How is—how, I say, is Mrs. Merillia?”
“Well, Master Hennessey, she’s not dead yet.”
And Mr. Ferdinand, with a contorted countenance moved towards the servants’ hall.