And so I and Her Majesty are really one and the same! It ought to seem very wonderful, but somehow it doesn't in the slightest." "I don't think that anything will seem wonderful to you now, Niti," was the quiet response.

"But as we are at present on the lower plane of existence, it will be necessary for us to go to breakfast." * * * * * Oscarovitch and Phadrig went back after the lecture to the Prince's flat in Royal Court Mansions, which, as a bachelor and a bird of passage, he found much more convenient in many ways than a house.

He ordered his Russian servant to make coffee for his guest, and mixed a stiff brandy-and-soda for himself.

He wanted it, for the experiences of the evening had shaken even his nerves not a little.

He was essentially a man of power, both physically and mentally, of boundless ambitions and iron will, vast knowledge of the world, as he knew it, and of very high intellectual attainments; but the cast of his mind was absolutely material, and therefore he both hated and feared anything which appeared to transcend the material plane to which his mental vision was at present entirely confined.
When the servant had left the room after bringing the coffee, he gave Phadrig a cigar, lit one himself, and said through the first puffs of smoke: "Phadrig, you know, or pretend to know, more about these things than I do, or want to do: but, still, just now I want you to tell me honestly if you believe that Professor Marmion did really solve those problems to-night.