Then Miss Quincey sat up in bed and became lyrical as she described the delirious joy of decimals--recurring decimals--and the rapture of cube-root.

She herself had never got farther than cube-root; but it was enough.

Beyond that, she hinted, lay the infinite.

And Dr.
Cautley laughed at her defence of the noble science.

Oh yes, he could understand its fascination, its irresistible appeal to the emotions; he only wished to remind her that it was the most debilitating study in the world.