Fingertips

He colored, and I saw a look of annoyance in his eyes, but his reply came quickly.

"With pleasure. May I conduct you to the library?"

I seated myself in a chair at the head of the room, and one by one those who wished to consult me entered. Sir Edward was the first. His hand bore out all my ideas with regard to his character. There wag obstinacy, which could amount to cruelty; there was a passionate and absorbing selfishness; and, what gave grim significance to those two qualities an overmastering sense of superstition. I mumbled a few words in praise of what small virtues he possessed, and as I saw that he was all too anxious to get the ordeal over, quickly dismissed him.

One by one several of the visitors consulted me, and at last it was Captain Cunnyngham's turn. I bent over his hand with great interest. There was no question that the good qualities in it largely predominated, but I was disa