PREFACE 
9 
had an idea of his own, but distorted the beautiful and 
edifying events of the Bible into insane and ridiculous 
ones, which he proceeded to plagiarize. 
On the voyage out the virgin mother became en-
amoured, as was her wont, of the nearest male, in this 
case a fellow-traveller.  He, being well able to support 
her in the luxury which she desired, easily persuaded 
her to leave the boat with him by stealth.  A small 
sailing vessel conveyed them to Malta, where they 
disappeared.  The only trace left in the books of earth 
records that this fascinating character was accused, four 
years later, in Vienna, of poisoning her paramour, but 
thanks to the wealth and influence of her new lover, 
she escaped. 
The legal father, left by himself with a squalling 
child to amuse, to appease in his tantrums, and to 
bring up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, 
was not a little perplexed by the sudden disappearance 
of his wife.  At first he supposed that she had been 
translated, but, finding that she had not left the traditional 
mantle behind her, he abandoned this supposition in 
favour of quite a different, and indeed a more plausible 
one.  He now believed her to be the scarlet woman 
in the Apocalypse, with variations.  On arrival in