Boyd.

'In my youth I believed nothing, for science had taught me to distrust
even the evidence of my five senses,' he replied, with a shrug of
the shoulders. 'But I have seen many things in the East which are
inexplicable by the known processes of science. Mr Haddo has given
you one definition of magic, and I will give you another. It may be
described merely as the intelligent utilization of forces which are
unknown, contemned, or misunderstood of the vulgar. The young man who
settles in the East sneers at the ideas of magic which surround him,
but I know not what there is in the atmosphere that saps his unbelief.
When he has sojourned for some years among Orientals, he comes insensibly
to share the opinion of many sensible men that perhaps there is something
in it after all.'

Arthur Burdon made a gesture of impatience.

'I cannot imagine that, however much I lived in Eastern countries, I
could believe anything that had the whole weight of science against it.
If there were a word of truth in anything Haddo says, we should be unable
to form any reasonable theory of the universe.'

'For a scientific man you argue with singular fatuity,' said Haddo icily,
and his manner had an offensiveness which was intensely irritating. 'You
should be aware that science, dealing only with the general, leaves out
of consideration the individual cases that contradict the enormous
majority. Occasionally the heart is on the right side of the body, but
you would not on that account ever put your stethoscope in any other
than the usual spot. It is possible that under certain conditions the
law of gravity does not apply, yet you will conduct your life under the