of earth-bound spirits," said my authority, "some one
dominant idea obsessing them at the hour of death is sufficient to hold
them in this material world. They are the amphibia of this life and of
the next, capable of passing from one to the other as the turtle passes
from land to water. The causes which may bind a soul so strongly to a
life which its body has abandoned are any violent emotion. Avarice,
revenge, anxiety, love, and pity have all been known to have this
effect. As a rule it springs from some unfulfilled wish, and when the
wish has been fulfilled the material bond relaxes. There are many cases
upon record which show the singular persistence of these visitors, and
also their disappearance when their wishes have been fulfilled, or in
some cases when a reasonable compromise has been effected."

"_A reasonable compromise effected_"--those were the words which I had
brooded over all the morning, and which I now verified in the original.
No actual atonement could be made here--but a reasonable compromise! I
made my way as fast as a train could take me to the Shadwell Seamen's
Hospital, where my old friend Jack Hewett was house-surgeon. Without
explaining the situation I made him understand what it was that I
wanted.

"A brown man's hand!" said he, in amazement. "What in the world do you
want that for?"

"Never mind. I'll tell you some day. I know that your wards are full of
Indians."

"I should think so. But a hand----" He thought a little and then struck
a bell.

"Travers," said he to a student-dresser, "what became of the hands of
the Lascar which we took off yesterday? I mean the fellow from the East
India Dock who got caught in the steam winch."

"They are in the _post-mortem_ room, sir."

"Just pack one of them in antiseptics and give it to Dr. Hardacre."

And so I found myself back at Rodenhurst before dinner with this curious
outcome of my day in town. I still said nothing to Sir Dominick, but I
slept that night in the laboratory, and I placed the Lascar's hand in
one of the glass jars at the end of my couch.

So interested was I in the result of my experiment that sleep was out of
the question. I sat with a shaded lamp beside me and waited patiently
for my visitor. This time I saw him clearly from the first. He appeared
beside the door, nebulous for an instant, and then hardening into as
distinct an outline as any living man. The slippers beneath his grey
gown were red and heelless, which acc