y will be able to see him to-night. He hasn't
stirred from the house since his wife died. He told me he momentarily
expected messages from her direct when she had got strong enough in her
new world. I believe they had some kind of a compact to that effect. The
rappings come at twelve-thirty."

"Ah, then I shall have plenty of time to run over to my laboratory
before seeing Mr. Vandam and get some apparatus I have in mind. No,
Doctor, you needn't bother to go with me. Just give me a card of
introduction. I'll see you to-morrow at ten. Good-night--oh, by the way,
don't give out any of the facts you have told me."

"Jameson," said Craig, when we were walking rapidly over toward the
university, "this promises to be an uncommonly difficult case."

"As I view it now," I said, "I have suspicions of everybody concerned
in it. Even the view of the Star, that it is a case of suicide due to
overwrought nerves, may explain it."

"It might even be a natural death," Craig added. "And that would make
it a greater mystery than ever--a case for psychical research. One thing
that I am going to do to-night will tell me much, however."

At the laboratory he unlocked a glass case and took out a little
instrument which looked like two horizontal pendulums suspended by fine
wires. There was a large magnet near each pendulum, and the end of
each pendulum bore a needle which touched a circular drum driven by
clock-work. Craig fussed with and adjusted the apparatus, while I said
nothing, for I had long ago learned that in applying a new apparatus
to doing old things Craig was as dumb as an oyster, until his work was
crowned with success.

We had no trouble in getting in to see Mr. Vandam in his seance-room.
His face was familiar to me, for I had seen him in public a number of
times, but it looked strangely altered. He was nervous, and showed his
age very perceptibly.

It was as the coroner's physician had said. The house was littered
with reminders of the cult, books, papers, curious daubs of paintings
handsomely framed, and photographs; hazy overexposures, I should have
called them, but Mr. Vandam took great pride in them, and Kennedy quite
won him over by his admiration for them.

They talked about the rappings, and the old man explained where and when
they occurred. They proceeded from a little cabinet or closet at one end
of the room. It was evident that he was a thorough believer in them and
in the messages they conveyed.

Craig