“Did it stay long?”
“A few minutes only—but it made an impression upon me that I can never forget.”
It had apparently also made a very great impression upon Mr. and Madame Sagittarius, who remained for some seconds staring fixedly at the Prophet without uttering a word. At last Mr. Sagittarius turned to Madame and said in a voice that shook with seriousness,—
“Can it be, Sophronia, that prophets ought to live in the central districts? Can it really be that the nearer they are to the Circus, and even to the Stores—”
“O beatus illa!” interjected Madame upon the pinions of a sigh.
“Yes, Sophronia, the Stores, the more clearly is the knowledge of the future vouchsafed to them? If it should prove to be so!”
Madame stared again upon the Prophet with a fixity and strained inquiry which made him shift in his seat.
“If it should!” she repeated, upon the lowest note of her lower register, which sounded, at that solemn moment, like the keynote of a dreamer. Then, with a sudden change of manner, she cried sharply,—
“Jupiter, you must accompany this gentleman back to the square to-day.”
The Prophet started. So did Mr. Sagittarius.