will excuse me, Professor. I am honoured to have met you."
Malone was leaving also and the two friends had a few minutes' chat before they went their separate ways, Atkinson to Wimpole Street and Malone to South Norwood, where he was now living.
"Grand old fellow!" said Malone, chuckling. "You must never get offended with him. He means no harm. He is splendid."
"Of course he is. But if anything could make me a real out-and-out Spiritualist it is that sort of intolerance. It is very common, though it is generally cast rather in the tone of the quiet sneer than of the noisy roar. I like the latter best. By the way, Malone, if you care to go deeper into this subject I may be able to help you. You've heard of Linden?"
"Linden, the professional medium?. Yes, I've been told he is the greatest blackguard unhung."
"Ah, well, they usually talk of them like that. You must judge for yourself. He put his knee-cap out last winter and I put it in again, and that has made a friendly bond between us. It's not always easy to get him, and of course a small fee, a guinea I think, is usual, but if you wanted a sitting I could work it."
"You think him genuine?"
Atkinson shrugged his shoulders.
"I daresay they all take the line of least resistance. I can only say that I have never detected him in fraud. You must judge for yourself."
"I will," said Malone. "I am getting hot on this trail. And there is copy in it, too. When things are more easy I'll write to you, Atkinson, and we can go more deeply into the matter."
(To be continued.)
ACROSTICS.
DOUBLE ACROSTIC No. 144.
A strenuous game the lover oft has played;
My garden is addrned by pretty maid.
1.Mix up the needed type; can Fate assign
To mortals health dependent on one line?
2.To fisher here give proper name alone,
Though joined to prefix it is always shown.
3.This tells of prelate, hinting Jonathan,
And in abbreviation shows the man.
4.Father of twenty children used to tell
Of four-leaved clover, and of this as well.
5.Suggesting revelry in bygone days,
In present times it tells of formal praise.
6.Whole, lacking interjection, would you view?
Put this in land where whole is now taboo.
7.A letter leaves each end. The rest behold
Of place that lovely widow saved of old.
8.What scientific cranks long sought in vain,
A monarch won, and with it endless pain.
9.Coal-tinted ever, modern rook is missed
In treatises of ornithologist.
Answers to Acrostic No. 144 should be addressed to the Acrostic Editor, The Strand Magazine, Southampton Street, Strand, London, W.C.2, and must arrive not later than by the first post on July 10th.
Two answers may be sent to every light.
It is essential that solvers, with their answers to this acrostic, should send also their real names and addresses.
ANSWER TO DOUBLE ACROSTIC No. 143.
(The Third of the Series.)
Cast out by father's wrath, a youthful knight
Went with his king the infidels to fight;
A prize he won, great skill with courage blended,
And, wounded sore, by Jewish maid was tended.
1. In veins of the immortal gods it ran.
2. Where every prospect pleases, what is man?
3. At Ramoth-Gilead he met his doom.
4. Warriors at Ivry rallied round his plume,
5. A war-time play; and war-dogs know its sound.
6. This "water-fly" in Denmark once was found.
7. Carried by snow-white beast across the wave,
7. Name to a continent 'tis said she gave.
1.1 cho R
2.V il E
3. A ha B
4. N avarr A
5. H avo C
6. O sri C
7. E urop A
{{sc|Notes.{{—Light 2. Heber's hymn. 4. Macaunlay, Ivry. 5 and 6. Shakespeare.
Solvers who write to the Acrostic Editor and desire answers to their queries should, with their letters, enclose a stamped addressed envelope, and he will endeavor to reply.
