there is a great temptation sometimes not to send people away
disappointed. You have heard those stories, I expect, Mr. Baxter?"

"I have heard of Mr. Eglinton."

"Ah! Poor Willie.... Yes. But he had great powers, for all that....
Well, but the point you want to get at is this, is it not? Is it
really true, underneath it all? Is that it?"

Laurie nodded, looking at her steadily. She leaned forward.

"Mr. Baxter, by all that I hold most sacred, I assure you that it is,
that I myself have seen and touched ... _touched_ ... my own father,
who crossed over twenty years ago. I have received messages from his
own lips ... and communications in other ways too, concerning matters
only known to him and to myself. Is that sufficient? No"; (she held up
a delicate silencing hand) "... no, I will not ask you to take my
word. I will ask you to test it for yourself."

Laurie too leaned forward now in his low chair, his hands clasped
between his knees.

"You will--you will let me test it?" he said in a low voice.

She sat back easily, pushing her draperies straight. She was in some
fine silk that fell straight from her high slender waist to her
copper-colored shoes.

"Listen, Mr. Baxter. Tomorrow there is coming to this house certainly
the greatest medium in London, if not in Europe. (Of course we cannot