It was so
vivid, so distinct, so real! It was my imagination, of course. I'm so
used to hearing Oom Peter's voice in this room that sometimes I forget
for a moment that he isn't here. But--but some one _must_ have called
me. I couldn't have imagined it _all_. Isn't it strange to hear a call
like that and then look around and find no one is there?"

"It is a phenomenon well recognised in modern science," affirmed
McPherson. "I could cite you a hundred instances of it. Not all from
imaginative persons either, Kathrien!" he added solemnly. "I have the
firm conviction that in a very short time I shall hear from Peter!"

"I hope so," sighed the Dead Man in whimsical despair.

"He made the compact I told you about," continued McPherson, "and Peter
Grimm never broke his word. He will come back. Be sure of that. But what
I want is some positive proof,--some absolute test to prove his presence
when he comes. Poor old Peter! Bless his kind, obstinate heart! If he
keeps that compact with me and comes back, do you know what I shall ask
him first?"

"You poor, blind, deaf, old Scotchman!" laughed Peter Grimm. "Open your
eyes and your ears! You are like the man who lay down at the edge of the
river and died of thirst."

"What would you ask him first, Doctor?" queried the girl as McPherson
paused with dramatic effect, awaiting the question.

"First of all," said the doctor, "I shall ask him: 'Peter, in the next
world does our work go on just where we left it off here?'"

"Well," returned Peter Grimm thoughtfully, "that question is rather a
poser, isn't it?"

"It is a difficult question to answer, I admit," mused McPherson,
following what he deemed to be the trend of his own thoughts. "I
realise that."

"You heard me?" cried the Dead Man, with sudden excitement. "You
_heard_? Come! We're getting results at last, you and I!"

"Results," murmured the doctor abstractedly, "are----What was I saying?
Oh, yes. In the life-to-come, for instance, am I to be a bone-setter and
is he to keep on being a tulip man?"

"It stands to reason, Andrew, doesn't it?" suggested Peter Grimm. "What
chance would a beginner have with a fellow who knew his business before
he was born? Hey?"

With the merrily victorious air that he had ever assumed when he had
scored a telling point in their old-time discussions, Peter surveyed the
doctor.

"I believe, Katje," mused McPherson after a moment's consideration,
"that it is possible to have more than