So entirely detached from him did the worthy couple appear to be,
so completely wrapped up in their own evidently well-considered and
carefully-laid plans, that he had a sense of being in another sphere,
not theirs, of hearing their remarks from some distance off. Madame
Sagittarius now turned towards him in a formal manner, and continued.
"And now, Mr. Vivian, I shall have to lay down the procedure that you
will follow. Have you a good memory--no, a pencil and notebook will be
best. _Litterae scriptus manetur_, as we all know full well. Have you a
pencil and--?"
The Prophet nodded mechanically.
"Will you kindly get them?"
The Prophet rose, walked to his writing table and felt for the
implements.
"If you will sit down now I will direct you," continued Madame,
authoritatively.
The Prophet sat down at the table, holding a lead pencil upside down in
one hand and an account-book wrong side up in the other.
"Let's see--what's to-day?" inquired Madame, of her husband.
"The seventeenth, my dear," replied Mr. Sagittarius, looking at his wife
with almost sickly adoration.
"To be sure. Capricornus's day for Homer's Idyl. Very well, Mr.
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