They did this for tens of hundreds or thousands of years, and can we expect a few coatings of the veneer that we politely call civilization, which after all is only one of our conventions that vanish in any human stress such as war, to kill out the human impulse it seems to hide?
I do not know, though I have my own opinion, and probably these young people never reasoned the matter out.

They just acted on an intuition as ancient as that which had attracted them to each other, namely a desire to consult the ruling fates by omens or symbols.

Or perhaps Anscombe thought that as his experience with the penny had proved so successful, he would give Providence another "chance." If so it took it and no mistake.

Confound it! I don't know what he thought; I only dwell on the matter because of the great results which followed this consultation of the Sybilline books of heaven.
As it happened my speculations, if I really indulged in any at that time, were suddenly extinguished by the bursting of the storm.

It was of the usual character, short but very violent.
Of a sudden the sky became alive with lightnings and the atmosphere with the roar of winds.