"I," said Indiman, gravely, "am a mathematician by instinctive
preference and early training, but I have never been able to cross
the 'Ass's Bridge,' the Forty-seventh problem of Euclid.
Incidentally, I may mention that I am a golf-player with a handicap
of eighteen."

"A double first," commented the proprietor of the Utinam Club. "I
perceive, Mr. Indiman, that you are bent upon amusing yourself; and
since circumstances have undeniably favored you, you may continue
to do so. But not at my expense," and thereupon he mentioned a
figure for initiation and dues that made me sit up. But Indiman
settled without flinching; he happened to have his check-book with
him, and the remaining formalities were quickly discharged.

"And now, gentlemen, let me show you about the club," said Dr.
Magnus, affably. "Will you be good enough to follow me?"

He led the way into the hall, and thence into the cloister-like
passage communicating with the "House in the Middle of the Block."
I glanced out at the court-yard as we passed a window; it was most
ingeniously planned to take the utmost advantage of its limited
area. An antique Italian fountain occupied a niche in the opposite
wall, and on either side were sedilia flanked by bay-trees in tubs
and two or three fine specimens of the Japanese dwarf oak. A bas-
relief in plaster of the Elgin marbles ran friezelike the full
length of the party wall, and fixed immediately above the fountain
niche the terrible mask of the Medusa face looked down upon us. The
time of the year being late in March, there was no snow upon the
ground, and I could see that the ground of the court-yard was