“Surely, you don’t pretend to believe such a preposterous story, Donald,� she said, laughing.
“We have the Professor and his wife to testify to it, neither one ever known to l—prevaricate; and in the mouths of two witnesses the truth shall be affirmed,� misquoted Donald. “At any rate one story is good until another is told.�
“They must be a pair of charlatans, and I don’t think I care to make their acquaintance.�
“I suspect you begin to fear them. There is no telling what they may discover,� Donald said with mock gravity. “But here comes the redoubtable hero himself. All hail, ye Prince of Darkness, hail!� he continued in a sepulchral voice, as a step was heard outside the door.
A moment later the Professor entered the apartment. Melissa had time, while he greeted the head of the family, to note that he was a medium-sized, wiry-looking man, of about forty, with very long red hair hanging to his shoulders, and bristling whiskers of the same color. His lower jaw was prominent and his ears were flattened very close to his head. But his most remarkable feature was a pair of keen gray eyes, which gleamed restlessly from under rather overhanging brows.
When presented to Lissa he fixed his eyes upon her in a way that caused her to suppress a shudder, and regarded her steadily for a moment, then, still holding her by the hand, which she would gladly have withdrawn, he said:
“You look like your mother, Mrs. Bartram, except that she has blue eyes. She has a scar on her left wrist, made in a peculiar manner.�
Lissa blushed painfully, and followed his eyes to her own wrist as she drew away her hand. She knew the history of the scar alluded to, though she believed it unknown to any one outside her own immediate family. She felt the inquiring eyes of her husband’s relatives upon her, and sat down ill at ease.
Presently the company were seated about a table in the center of the room, and the clairvoyant announced himself in readiness to afford proof of his wonderful powers.
Accordingly, two or three lines cut from a letter from a sister of the bride were placed in his hand, so rolled that no words written there could give any clue to the writer.