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Rh Royal Academician into shreds; once more the Wisconsin evangelist bent to the ear of the Mayfair débutante and implored her to hit the trail of salvation; once more lion growled at lion.

But Charlie Thorneycroft could not shake off the strange impression which he had received. He was still aware of the thing, whatever it was, and of the great rushing of wings. It came out of the East, from far across the sea, and it was very portentous, very terrible, very tragic.

"I didn't hear the wings!" he exclaimed later on. "Nor did I feel them. If I had felt or heard I wouldn't have minded so, you know. I felt with them—and I was sorry for them, awfully, awfully sorry. No sense to that? Of course not. There wasn't a bally ounce of sense to the whole wretched thing from beginning to end—and that's the worst of it!"