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&039;Summanus - whatever power he may be "

Ovid&039;s Fasti

The Tuscan Rituals! Nohere had I heard of such a book or books before? Certainly very rare Copy in the British Museu with a copy?

And such a strange bunch of blokes at that

Only a few haarrulous, and vociferous &039;Jock&039; who had boarded it directly in front of me had been much upset by the fact that all the compartments seemed to be fully occupied

&039;Och, they bleddy British trains,&039; he had drunkenly grumbled, &039;either a&039;wiz eyniza-tion whatsayever - ye no agree, ye sassenach?&039; He had elbowed ether down the dim corridor

&039;Er, yes,&039; I had answered &039;Quite so!&039;

Neither of us carried cases and as we stuloomy compartments Jock suddenly stopped short

&039;Noo what in hell&039;s this - will ye look here? A compart laddie an&039; lassie in there wi&039; six emp&039;y seats Privacy be damned Ah&039;m no standin&039; oot here while there&039;s a seat in there&039;

The door had proved to be locked - on the inside - but that had not deterred the &039;bonnie Scot&039; for a ed insistently upon the wooden frame of the door until it was carefully, tentatively opened a few inches: then he had stuck his foot in the gap and put his shoulder to the fra the door fully open

&039;No, no&039; The scrawny, pale, pin-stripe jacketedthe entrance protested &039;You can&039;t come in - this compartment is reserved&039;

&039;Is that so, noo? Well, if ye&039;ll kindly show nificantly upon the naked glass of the door with a belligerent fingernail, &039;Ah&039;ll bother ye no h, if ye&039;ll hold ye&039;re blether, Ah&039;d appreciate a bleddy seat&039;

&039;No, no&039; The scrawny ain, only to be quickly cut off by a terse command from behind him:

&039;Let the heavily and puffing out my cheeks to clear my ears

For the voice from within the dimly-lit compartment had sounded hollow, unnatural Possibly the train had started to pass through a tunnel, an occurrence which never fails to give lanced out of the exterior corridorand saw i; far off on the dark horizon I could see the red glare of coke-oven fires Anyhatever the effect had been which had given that voice its momentarily peculiar - resonance? - it had obviously passed, for Jock&039;s voice sounded perfectly normal as he said: &039;Noo tha&039;s better; excuse a body, will ye?&039; He shouldered the dubious looking man in the doorway to one side and slid cluer As I joined the the door shut behind ers in all, six people including Jock and ht seats which faced inwards in two sets of four

I have always been a couest of perfunctory glances which I gave to each of the three new faces before I settled back and took out the pocket-book I had picked up earlier in the day in London

Those lances, however, were quite sufficient to put me off my book and to tell me that the three friends of the pin-stripe jacketedcompanions - especially the extre stiffly in his seat beside Jock The other two answered to approxihim - except that one of them wore a thinelse again

Within the brief duration of the glance I had given hih the rest of his features were, his mouth appeared decidedly odd - almost as if it had been painted onto his face - theor any other depression to show that there was a hole there at all His ears were thick and blunt and his eyebroere bushy over theeyes it has ever beenat lanced so quickly away; the fact that when I had looked at hi at me - and his face had been totally devoid of any expression whatsoever

Fairies? The nasty thought had flashed through my mind unbidden; none the less, that would explain why the door had been locked

Suddenly Pin-Stripe - seated next to ave a start, and, as I glanced up fro directly into each other&039;s eyes

&039;Tell thee lips had not ain his voice had seeled corridors before reaching ht,&039; infor sickly first at Jock and then at me

&039;Aye,&039; said Jock sarcastically, &039;happens every nicht aboot this timeYe&039;re very observant&039;

&039;Yes,&039; said Pin-Stripe, choosing to ignore the jibe, &039;as you say - but the point I wish to make is that we three, er, that is, we four,&039; he corrected hi his companions with a nod of his head, &039;are ious sect We have a cereentles&039; I heard hireement - I am a tolerant person - but Jock was of a different mind

&039;Sect?&039; he said sharply &039;Cereust &039;Well; Ah&039;m a member o&039; the Church o&039; Scotland and Ah&039;ll tell ye noo - Ah&039;ll hae no truck wi&039; bleddy heathen cere ra, but now he turned to look at Jock, his eyes narrowing toin a black frown of disapproval

&039;Er, perhaps it would be better,&039; said Pin-Stripe hastily, leaning across the narrow aisle towards Funny-Mouth as he noticed the change in that person&039;s attitude, &039;if they, er, went to sleep&039;

This preposterous statement or question, which caused Jock to peer at its author in blank a about, was directed at Funny-Mouth ithout taking his eyes off Jock&039;s outraged face, nodded in agreement