"But it's too ridiculous! I—we—why we all remember
studying Xingu last year—or the year before last," Mrs.
Ballinger stammered.
"I thought I did when you said so," Laura Glyde avowed.
"I said so?" cried Mrs. Ballinger.
"Yes. You said it had crowded everything else out of your
mind."
"Well you said it had changed your whole life!"
"For that matter, Miss Van Vluyck said she had never
grudged the time she'd given it."
Mrs. Plinth interposed: "I made it clear that I knew nothing
whatever of the original."
Mrs. Ballinger broke off the dispute with a groan. "Oh,
what does it all matter if she's been making fools of us?
I believe Miss Van Vluyck's right—she was talking of the
river all the while!"
"How could she? It's too preposterous," Miss Glyde ex-
claimed.
"Listen." Miss Van Vluyck had repossessed herself of the
Encyclopædia, and restored her spectacles to a nose
reddened by excitement. " 'The Xingu, one of the principal
rivers of Brazil, rises on the plateau of Mato Grosso, and
flows in a northerly direction for a length of no less than
one thousand one hundred and eighteen miles, entering
HYLAND
