me this was the most
trying. I felt that I must look very pale, but with an affectation
of indifference I arose, walked across the room and entered the
bed-chamber. In a moment I understood that the unseen had likewise
passed the sill and had entered the room; then I slammed the door,
locked it, and put the key in my pocket.

Everything had been made ready to cope with a material and not a
supernatural being; still it was purely a venture, and at no previous
time had there seemed so little hope of success. Nevertheless not a
moment was lost in hauling out the net and placing it in position
across the room so that it hung straight, filling the space between
wall and wall, and ceiling and floor. Then I began to draw it down the
room by means of the ropes, and on the axis of the chamber, so that
its edges passed smoothly along ceiling, walls, and floor. The
anxious moment was at hand.

All the running gear had to be worked evenly; at the same time every
nerve was strained in order to detect the slightest bulge in the
upright net, should it come in contact with a tangible body.

Until three quarters of the room had been sifted nothing occurred.
Then I saw the edge against the left-hand wall carefully drawn aside;
to spring forward and close the opening was the instinctive work
of a second. Terror combining with a fierce delight lent me an
extraordinary force; I drew with convulsive power on the ropes. Every
moment an invisible hand seemed to lift the net at some point, but
each attempt was luckily frustrated. At last the movements ceased, and
I drew the net flat against the farther wall. With feverish haste my
hand travelled over its entire surface; the net was scanned in profile
for the impression of a body, but there was none. The game had either
escaped or withdrawn into the deep window-seat.

Now came a moment for breath, and for reflection. Again the cynical
cloud of doubt folded me in. Dupe of my own morbid imagination, I
should stand convicted of monomania in the eyes of any reasonable
being who should see my actions. Then it was best, was it not? to tear
the net away; or should I deliberately pursue to the utmost a plan
begun? Never before had I so clearly felt a dual existence urging to
opposite courses of action, as if the body's instinct commanded an
advance, while the mind, assailing the whole proceeding with
ridicule, was for giving up the game. But for all that it was a good
sign that I began to feel a s