"I have the honour of wishing you good-day." "You won't forget the Spec. ?" asked Innes.
"The Spec. ?" said Archie.

"O no, I won't forget the Spec." And the one young man carried his tortured spirit forth of the city and all the day long, by one road and another, in an endless pilgrimage of misery; while the other hastened smilingly to spread the news of Weir's access of insanity, and to drum up for that night a full attendance at the Speculative, where further eccentric developments might certainly be looked for.

I doubt if Innes had the least belief in his prediction; I think it flowed rather from a wish to make the story as good and the scandal as great as possible; not from any ill-will to Archie--from the mere pleasure of beholding interested faces.

But for all that his words were prophetic.

Archie did not forget the Spec.; he put in an appearance there at the due time, and, before the evening was over, had dealt a memorable shock to his companions.