.

"Splendid," praised the unknown when I had concluded. "Now put your
mouth close up to the transmitter and do the same thing all over again,
but slightly louder."

No sooner requested than done.

"Now stand two feet to the left of the phone and repeat."

I repeated.

"Now two feet to the right, please."

Once more I obeyed.

Then came this message:

"Doctor, have you a chair handy?"

I said a chair was at the moment within arm's reach of me.

"Excellent," said this person who professed to be in charge of the test.
"Please draw the chair close up to the wall, climb upon it and, standing
on tiptoe, say coo-coo clearly and distinctly and keep on saying it
until I call out 'Enough.'"

[Illustration: "SAY COO-COO CLEARLY AND DISTINCTLY AND KEEP ON SAYING IT
UNTIL I CALL OUT 'ENOUGH'"]

Marvelling that such a prolonged test should be deemed necessary, I
nevertheless obliged by acting as instructed. I had repeated the word
for what seemed to me an interminable space of time and was rapidly
becoming wearied by the exertion of maintaining the position required
when the voice said "Enough." I lost no time in dismounting to _terra
firma_, or rather the floor.

"Thank you so much," stated the unknown. "Just one more little test,
doctor, and we'll be through. Have you a good singing voice?"

In proper modesty but with a due regard for the truth, I admitted that
although I never enjoyed the advantages of vocal culture, friends had
more than once commented upon the quality of my voice when uplifted in
song.

"I sing tenor," I amplified, for as yet I suspected nothing.

"Very well then," bade the stranger; "are you holding the receiver to
your ear?"

"I am."

"Keep it there. And now stand on your head and sing 'Just as I am
Without One Plea.'"

I started back astounded. Instantly I divined, in a lightning flash of
intuition, that apparently an effort was being made to perpetrate a
hoax. In the same moment I arrived at the definite conclusion that the
object of that hoax could be none other than myself. For a fleeting
period my natural indignation was such that language almost failed me.

Simultaneously I became aware of a sound as of suppressed laughter
outside my study window. Releasing my hold upon the receiver which,
until then, mechanically I had retained in my grasp, I stepped to my
casement and peered out, first looking this way, then that. No one was
in sight; I must have fancied I heard something.