The Preface.
I. The Story.
II. How it came about.
III. How cousin Christopher became mixed up with it.
IV. How it was kept from Mrs. Arlington.
V. How it was told to Mrs. Marigold.
VI. And how it was finished too soon.
The Prologue.
The Doctor never did believe this story, but claims for it that, to agreat extent, it has altered his whole outlook on life.
"Of course, what actually happened—what took place under my own nose,"continued the Doctor, "I do not dispute. And then there is the case ofMrs. Marigold. That was unfortunate, I admit, and still is, especiallyfor Marigold. But, standing by itself, it proves nothing. Thesefluffy, giggling women—as often as not it is a mere shell that theyshed with their first youth—one never knows what is underneath. Withregard to the others, the whole thing rests upon a simple scientificbasis. The idea was 'in the air,' as we say—a passing brain-wave.And when it had worked itself out there was an end of it. As for allthis Jack-and-the-Beanstalk tomfoolery—"
There came from the darkening uplands the sound of a lost soul. Itrose and fell and died away.
"Blowing stones," explained the Doctor, stopping to refill his pipe."One finds them in these parts. Hollowed out during the glacialperiod. Always just about twilight that one hears it. Rush of aircaused by sudden sinking of the temperature. That's how all these sortof ideas get started."
The Doctor, having lit his pipe, resumed his stride.
"I don't say," continued the Doctor, "that it would have happenedwithout her coming. Undoubtedly it was she who supplied the necessarypsychic conditions. There was that about her—a sort of atmosphere.That quaint archaic French of hers—King Arthur and the round table andMerlin; it seemed to recreate it all. An artful minx, that is the onlyexplanation. But while she was looking at you, out of that curiousaloofness of hers—"
The Doctor left the sentence uncompleted.
"As for old Littlecherry," the Doctor began again quite suddenly,"that's his speciality—folklore, occultism, all that flummery. If youknocked at his door with the original Sleeping Beauty on your arm he'donly fuss round her with cushions and hope that she'd had a good night.Found a seed once—chipped it out of an old fossil, and grew it in apot in his study. About the most dilapidated weed you ever saw.Talked about it as if he had re-discovered the Elixir of Life. Even ifhe didn't say anything in actually so many words, there was the way hewent about. That of itself was enough to have started the whole thing,to say noth