absolutely top-hole parrot I ever saw in my life. We sat staring,
because, you see, we never saw the beast fly in, and if it flew
through the window we _must_ have seen it, because of my arm being
on the window-sill. While we were still staring I _distinctly_ heard
your voice say, 'Do come here, Dick.' Just those words and then no
more. Then the parrot vanished absolutely, tail and everything,
though it was the finest parrot's tail I ever saw in my life. I can
tell you, Moll, it made me sit up hearing you like that. Y.O. said
my freckles came out like a rash because I got almost pale under
them. I wish I'd seen myself. Then we made the astonishing discovery
that none of the other chaps had seen the parrot, in fact they say
it is a cock-and-bull story, but we are sitting tight because of the
phyc-thingummy. Young O. says that whatever it is he has to be in it
too, because most probably it was owing to his peculiar Indian
ghostiness that we saw it at all. I don't quite agree, but anyhow
that's what he says, and he'd better be in. Please write by return
of post if you can explain this phenomenon. We hope you aren't dead.

"Yours affec.,

"DICK."


Mollie read this letter through twice, then laid it down and ate her
egg and toast without thinking much of what she was doing. She felt
rather startled again; things were certainly queerish. Either her
vivid dream had penetrated to Dick's brain--and such experiences
were not altogether unknown between the twins--or else--or else
Prudence really _had_ come yesterday, and there was something in
that story of the Time-travellers. So the experiment had worked too.