Page:The Master of Mysteries (1912).djvu/89

 They are undoubted proof of our animal origin, our descent from the anthropoid apes."

Valeska frowned. "I never like to be reminded of that."

"Well, then, of our descent from birds, or reptiles. You have beautiful eyes, my dear; but you can't conceal that little part near the nose which is called the 'semilunar fold'. That is but the remains of the third eyelid you possessed as a bird, the transparent membrane that eagles draw over the cornea."

The bell rang outside. Astro the Philosopher became, on the instant, Astro the Seer, and dropped into his professional poise, calm, inert, picturesque, oriental. Valeska retired to another room and began her work of looking carefully over the papers for news of anything that might be of use to the Seer in his conferences. It was her duty to keep in touch with the doings of the day.

For some time she read without interest, making notes occasionally, and from time to time consulting her card catalogue to look up the condensed biographies of persons prominent in society, politics, or finance, adding to the data there collected. She cut clippings, too, and pasted them in a blank book for Astro to look over at his leisure. In the last of the morning papers, her eyes fell on the following paragraph, and she read it with attention:

No small amount of gossip has been occasioned during the last week or so in the little village of Vandyke, by the rumors of supernatural visitations at the well-known Fanshawe farm, now the residence of Miss Mildred Fanshawe, the last living representative of a prominent old family in the