the heavens. " The nations have their horoscopes
as the individuals have of whom the
nations are made up. There are signs in the
sky which those who study long and reverently
can read, warnings that threaten, combinations
which, indicating the fusing together of bodies
which may not peacefully amalgamate, must
surely end in discord. These, and the like of
these, we can see, though, as I have said, with
dazzled eyes, and the meaning of these we can
partly make out, but with hesitating and doubtful
perception only."

There was a pause here of some duration, and
Vampi occupied himself again with his cabalistic
papers.

"And do you really believe in these things,
Cornelius?" asked Lethwaite, whose cynicism
seemed for a time to have deserted him, " or
are you only making a pastime of things that
sound too serious for play?"

"Pastime! Play!" echoed Vampi. How
can you even use such words. Why, my life is
given up to the study of these things. This,
far more than the trade which I am obliged to
follow, is the real business of my existence.
And my reward is great. Detached from the
things of this world, alone in this garret, with
nothing but the air between me and the heavenly
bodies which it is my delight to watch, I have
as little to do with the bustle and noise of this
great town — am as utterly alone in it and as
little affected by it, as a solitary in the desert.
And so, like a solitary, I see strange visions
here, and sometimes with the aid of this glorious
invention," and he laid his hand upon the
telescope as he spoke with something of affection,
"I seem to be on the point of making
such discoveries as one day shall make my name
immortal. Nay, my very sleep is less a sleep
than a transition into another and more spiritual
world, where I mingle with the shades of
those whose written thoughts have been my
guiding study in my waking hours, the shades
of Aristotle, of Newton, and of Herschel, of
Albertus Magnus, and my namesake, Cornelius
Agrippa."

"And what do these tell you — what do they
bid you do?" asked Lethwaite.

"They bid me go on, and by no means to be
discouraged. In a society entirely occupied
with facts they bid me deal with what the world
calls fancies, and study still to bring to perfection
those neglected arts by which it is possible
to foretel the future, to warn men of coming
misfortunes, or congratulate them on the approach
of a prosperity of which they can as yet
know nothing."

"And it is a prediction belonging to the first
of these sections which affects me just now?"
asked Lethwaite.

"It is so," replied the adept. " There is
some risk to be apprehended in your case.
There are adverse influences at work, and which
will be at work for some little time to come, by
which your undertakings will run the risk of
being fatally opposed. You were born under
Saturn, and there are some even more powerful
than he whose machinations are just now much
to be dreaded. Therefore, I say, be wary."

"Then what would you advise, Cornelius?"

"I would advise you to practise the greatest
caution," replied the sage. " I would advise
you for some time to come to engage in no
enterprise or transaction of unusual importance,
and to regard every proposal that may be made
to you with the greatest suspicion; to walk, in
fact, with an especial caution, and as one does
who knows himself to be surrounded with pitfals.
I suppose," he continued, after a pause,
"that you have no reason yourself, and from
anything you know, to apprehend any risk?"

"Of what kind? Do you mean of a personal
kind?" asked Lethwaite.

"No, as far as I have been able to make out,
it is not a personal risk that you have to apprehend.
There is no single indication of anything
of the sort."

Julius Lethwaite turned over what the astrologer
had said in his mind for some time. It
had made more impression upon him than he
could account for. He generally played with
life as if it were some instrument of music, and
that with so light a touch that the full sound
was never got out of the deeper and more
solemn chords. He was not much used to being
in earnest. Trouble and he had had but little
to say to each other.

Suddenly he thought of that visit from old
Goodrich. He remembered that the old man
had seemed to be very much in earnest, and
that he appeared to speak as if there was some
special risk at hand. He had hinted that his
master's partner, Mr. Gamlin, had been speculating
in an injudicious manner, and that considering
the state of things in America — the
reader is reminded that we are speaking of a
time when the American war was impending —
that considering what thoughtful men were saying
in the City, Mr. Gamlin was much too fond
of dealings with the then United States of
America. These were disturbing thoughts, or
rather they would have proved so to any one
who had harboured them. But they were unwelcome
guests in the mind of Julius Lethwaite.
His motto was " Sans souci," and in a
very few minutes after these unpleasant reflections
had passed before him, he had managed
to become his old self again, and was ready for
all sorts of unprofitable speculations about the
corruptness of humanity, or indeed anything
else that did not concern his prospects.

He had got rid of every uneasy feeling, and
was preparing to probe the astrologer with
more questions, when he was interrupted by an
undecided sort of tap at the door.

"Come in," shouted the philosopher, who
recognised the sound. " Come in, Smagg."

The little man obeyed, and closing the door
after him as he entered, shuffled up close to his
master's chair, and made the following announcement:

"Here's the lady, master."

"And does she decline to do business with
you?"