COINCIDENCES, LUCK, CHANCE 



remind you, that seemingly hard crystaline things do flow, 

 and the greater in bulk they are, the more certain the flow. 



I hope you noted, during this varied story recital, that 

 you did not, in any case, say to yourself, this event is pre- 

 dictive. No one said of any story, this shows the designing 

 hand of a Providence ; this indicates malign purpose 

 thwarting us, or, this shows good and evil powers in active 

 antagonism. I felt sure that the utmost that these stories 

 would do would be to start the lowest form of wonder, and 

 this certainty about you is also one of the signs of the 

 times, a surveyor's point of triangulation in chaining over 

 the direction we have moved in and are now moving. 



Even the historical date stories had no foretelling 

 value ; they are but curiosities, classable with the 

 arithmetical treatment of the year-date that amused people 

 in 1 88 1. Read from right to left or left to right that date 

 comes out just the same. The first two figures (i8) 

 divided by 2 gives 9 as a quotient; the last two (81) 

 divided by 9 gives 9. The total (1881) divided by 9 con- 

 tains 9 in the quotient, or multiplied by 9 contains two 

 nines. Then i and 8 are 9 ; 8 and i are 9. If the first 

 two figures (18) be placed under the second two (81 j and 

 added, their sum is 99. If added as a string of numerals, 

 I -8-8- 1, the total is 18 or two nines, and the first two 

 numerals is two-ninths of the last two. This date also 

 reads the same and has all these same irrelevant combina- 

 tions if turned upside down. 



However, these French dates would be likely to call to 

 your minds the thousand and one ways of getting the 

 prophetical number 666, and also the wealth of books, 

 dealing in prophesy, that English people alone have pro- 

 duced. I have an impression (exaggerated you ma}' 

 say) that between 1860-80 one twenty-fifth of the books — 

 other than school books — ordinarily to be found in the sort 

 of second-hand book-store that never issues a catalogue, 

 were on the subject of prophesy — I mean, were attempts at 



