; he unlocked the gate with a key which he carried
in his hand, and pulled it open.

"Good-night, Mr. Lester," he said. "The sphere is at your service
should you desire again to test it. Think over what I have said to you."

"Good-night," I answered, and stepped through into the road.

The gate swung shut and the key grated in the lock. Mechanically I
turned my steps toward Godfrey's house; but I seemed to be bending
under a great burden--the burden of the vision.

CHAPTER XXII

THE SUMMONS

I was confused and shaken; I had no idea of the hour; I did not know
whether that vision had lasted a minute or a thousand years. But when
I blundered up the path to Godfrey's house, I found him and Simmonds
sitting on the porch together.

"I had Godfrey bring me out," said Simmonds, as he shook hands,
"because I wanted another look at those midnight fireworks. Did you
come up on the elevated?"

"Yes," I answered; and I felt Godfrey turn suddenly in his chair, at
the sound of my voice, and scrutinise my face. "I had dinner in town
and came up afterwards."

"What time was that?" asked Godfrey, quietly.

"I got up here about eight o'clock. I had an engagement with Miss
Vaughan."

"You have been with her since?"

"With her and Silva," and I dropped into a chair and mopped my face
with my handkerchief. "The experience was almost too much for me," I
added, and told them all that had occurred.

They listened, Godfrey motionless and intent, and Simmonds with a
murmur of astonishment now and then.

"I'm bound to confess," I concluded, "that my respect for Silva has
increased immensely. He's impressive; he's consistent; I almost
believe he's sincere."

"Have you considered what that belief implies?" asked Godfrey.

"What does it imply?"

"If Silva is sincere," said Godfrey, slowly; "if he is really what he
pretends to be, a mystic, a priest of Siva, intent only on making
converts to what he believes to be the true religion, then our whole
theory falls to the ground; and Swain is guilty of murder."

I shivered a little, but I saw that Godfrey was right.

"We are in this dilemma," Godfrey continued, "either Silva is a fakir
and charlatan, or Swain is a murderer."

"I wish you could have witnessed that horrible scene, as I did," I
broke in; "it would have shaken your confidence, too! I wish you could
have seen his face as he glanced back over his shoulder! It was
fiendish, Godfrey; positively fiendish! It made