"
"And it took a greater magnum bonum, a maximum bonum, to disenchant
us," said Armine.
"Which I fear did not come from me," said his mother, "and I am most
grateful to the dear people who applied it to you. I wish I saw my
way to the disenchantment of the other two!"
"I suppose you quite despaired till John took his turn in that
direction," said Allen. "Bobus could really have done better than
any of us, I fancy, but he would not have fulfilled the religious
condition, as sine qua non."
"Bobus is not really cleverer than Jock," said Armine.
"Yet the Skipjack seemed the most improbable one of all," said his
mother. "I wish he were not deprived of it, after all!"
"Perhaps he is not," said Armine. "He told me he had been comparing
the MS. notes with Dr. Ruthven's published paper, and he thought my
father saw farther into the capabilities."
"Well, he will do right with it. I am thankful to leave it in such
hands as his and the Monk's."
"Then it was this," continued Allen, "that was the key to poor
Janet's history. I suppose she hoped to qualify herself when she was
madly set on going to Zurich."
"Though I told her I could never commit it to her; but she knew just
enough to make that wretched man fancy it a sort of quack secret, and
he managed to persuade her that he had real ability to pursue the
discovery for her.
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