‘Well, maybe that’s not exactly the word for it; I am not a flowery phraser: I mean to create an impression that may prove a diversion, or a lesson, an example, a warning, a farce, a terror, a maxim, a moral, a proverb, a motto; a subject for comic cuts, for high art paintings; for pulpit sermons, stump orators, parsons, preachers, and petticoats to moralise on; ’twill be a lesson to perjurers, profligates, and hypocrites, generally; and at the finish each will say to his neighbour—What a capital dodge, I wonder no one ever thought of doing that before!’ and the old fellow rubbed his hands in high glee, at the thought of his plan, the success of which he felt would amply repay him for all the inconveniences of his most inopportune confinement. By this time Mercia’s carriage was in readiness, for it only required a few minutes’ attention to put it in working order, and soon the quartette, each under the influence of his own emotions, watched the light barouche roll quickly along the smooth macadamised roadway, for only heavy trams and waggons used the rails with which the principal streets and roads were provided, lighter vehicles not requiring such aids to locomotion. ‘Farewell, my Mercia,’ the young man had whispered in her ear, just before turning on the force; for the driver had taken the steering gear; ‘be strong and of good hope, Sadbag is our saviour, we have nought to fear with his clear head and true heart to help us.’ ‘Surely the gods will help their own sister!’ exclaimed Sadbag gallantly, as he raised his hat in making a last adieu. ‘Wait till the lucky bag is presented thee for a dip, and thou wilt see what a prize comes to thy hand!’ CHAPTER VIII ‘As atom unto atom firmly lies, Obeying blindly that great law which makes Subservient even lifeless matter; wakes An energy, a force, whose hidden ties Bind animate or inanimate in wise True, order.... Thus are we twain commingled....’ _Idylls, Legends and Lyrics._ Perhaps the most wonderful of all the discoveries of this period was that of psycho-magnetic sympathy, or psychic-energy, which was found to pervade the nerve-centres of all human beings, in a greater or lesser degree. In all ages the unseen bond that linked mankind together, with more or less hidden force, had baffled the researches of psychologists, and physiologists to such a degree, that at length the pursuit was abandoned, and left for Charlatans to play with. Each epoch of the world’s history saw the development of some absurdity; but these were in reality the fructification of the seedling; or infant gropings after that higher knowledge which evidence the spiritual aspirations of the human soul.