"Whenever it was then," interrupted his wife, brilliantly summing up
his indecision.

"Yes; whenever it was, as you say, on that occasion Mrs Quantock was
very full of some Indian philosophy which made you quite well at once.
What did she call it now? Yoga! Yes, that was it!"

"And then?" asked Lucia.

"Well, it appears you must have a teacher in Yoga or else you may
injure yourself. You have to breathe deeply and say 'Om'----"

"Say what?"

"Om. I understand the ejaculation to be Om. And there are very curious
physical exercises; you have to hold your ear with one hand and your
toes with the other, and you may strain yourself unless you do it
properly. That was the general gist of it."

"And shall we come to the Indian soon?" said Lucia.

"_Carissima_, you have come to him already. I suggest that Mrs
Quantock has applied for a teacher and got him. _Ecco!_"

Mrs Lucas wore a heavily corrugated forehead at this news. Peppino had
a wonderful _flair_ in explaining unusual circumstances in the
life of Riseholme and his conjectures were generally correct. But if he
was right in this instance, it struck Lucia as being a very irregular
thing that anyone should have imported a mystical Indian into Riseholme
without consulting her. It is true that she had been away, but still