"Do you know the lady well?"

"Yes, I fear I do."

"How strangely you look at me!"

"Excuse me," I said, starting. "I fear I followed your example and was
thinking of something else."

But I let what I was thinking about slip out.

"It was indeed a revelation. My thoughts will not interest you, I
fear. The experience of a man who saw a mirage in the desert came into
my mind."

"I don't see what put that into your head."

"Nor do I, now. The world appears to me entirely matter-of-fact."

"I'm glad to hear you say that. Mother is always talking to me about
spiritual meanings and all that. Now I agree with you. Things are just
what they are. Some we like, and some we don't like. What more is
there to say about them? I think people are very foolish if they
bother themselves over things or people they don't like. I hope mother
will take you to board, for I would like to have some one in the house
who looks at things as I do."

"Thanks. Woman's intuition is indeed unerring."

"I declare, there comes Silas Jones with his new top-buggy. You won't