454 A Century of Science 



for that book did not uphold the undulatory the- 

 ory. " Oh ! " said I, " then are you falling back 

 on the corpuscular theory ? " " No, indeed ; mine 

 is neither the one nor the other," and again came 

 the Sibylline smile. As I went for the book, I 

 found Professor Lovering in the alcove, halfway 

 up a tall ladder. " Hallo ! " said I sotto voce. 

 " There is a man in here who has upset the undu- 

 latory theory of light ; do you want to see him ?" 

 " Heavens, no ! Can't you inveigle him into some 

 dark corner while I run away ? " " Don't worry," 

 I replied, " make yourself comfortable ; I '11 

 keep him from you." So I lured Mr. Flighty into 

 a discourse on the bigotry of scientific folk, while 

 Old Joe, whose fears were not so easily allayed, 

 soon stealthily emerged from his alcove and hur- 

 ried from the hall. 



The next time that I happened to be in New 

 York, chatting with Youmans at the Century 

 Club, I alluded to Mr. Flighty, who believed he 

 had made a convert of him. 



" Ay, ay," rejoined Youmans, " and he said the 

 same of you." 



" Indeed ! Well, I suspected as much. Unless 

 you drive a crank from the room with cuffs and 

 jeers, he is sure to think you agree with him. I 

 do not yet know what Mr. Flighty's theory is." 



