by piece, he drew from Amidon his story.
He dropped back to previous parts of the narrative, and elicited
repetitions. He slurred over crucial points as if he did not see their
bearing, and then artfully assumed minute variations of the tale, but
was always corrected.

"The prosecution is obliged to rest its case," said he, at last.
"You're not crazy, or all my studies in diseases of the mind have done
me no good. Your story hangs together as no fiction could. To believe
you, brands us both as lunatics. Come on and let's see what your
mesmerist frauds have to say. As a specialist in facts, I'm a drowning
man catching at a straw. Come on: mesmerism, or astrology, or Moqui
snake-dance, it's all one to me!"

Up the stairs again, this time with Judge Blodgett, warily snuffing the
air, and shy of both Bohemia and Benares. Into the presence of Madame
le Claire, now gowned appropriately for the morning, and
looking--extraordinary, it is true, with her party-colored hair and
luminous eyes--but not so jungly as when she greeted the despairing
sight of Amidon the night before.

"Madame, and sir," said the judge, "as Mr. Amidon's friend and legal
adviser, I am here to protect his interests."

"So! Goot!" said the professor. "Bud te matter under gonsideration is
psychical, nod beguniary. Howefer, if you are interested in te realm
of te supliminal, if you care for mental science----"

"Sir," said the judge, "I may almost claim to be a specialist (so far
as a country practitioner is permitted to specialize) in senile and
paretic dementia, since I had the honor to represent the proponents in
the will case of Snoke versus Snoke. But it's only fair to say that I
regard hypnotism as humbug--only fair."

"Goot, goot!" said the professor delightedly. "To temonstrate to an
honest ant indellichent skeptic, is te rarest of brifileches. Ve vill
now broceed to temonstrate. Here is our friendt Herr Amidon avokened
in a car after fife years of lostness; he has anodder man's dotes,
anodder man's dicket, letters--unt all. He gomes to Madame le Claire
ant Blatherwick. He is hypnotized out of te Amidon blane of being, ant
into anodder. He is mate to gife himself avay. Now ve vill broceed to
dell aboudt his life since he vas lost--is it a dest, no?"

"Huh!" snorted the judge.

"Go on," cried Amidon; "tell me the story!"

"Vell," said the professor, "for four veeks after you left Elm Springs
Chunction, you vandered--not, Cl