to bed and found them both normal. So far, there had been no
sign of any phenomena; and I was not at all nervous. Indeed, I may say
that I have never been nervous with spirits.

I had brought the _Pickwick Papers_ upstairs to read in bed--it is
always as well to choose some book that has no kind of bearing on the
subject of one's investigation--and I was in the middle of the Trial
Scene when my attention was caught by the sound of something moving in
the room. I had left both windows wide open and the curtains undrawn,
and I thought at first that an unusually large moth had flown in and was
fluttering against the ceiling. I laid down my book, sat up and looked
round the room, but I could see nothing. The night was very still, and
the candle on the table by my bed burnt without a flicker. Nevertheless,
the sound continued; a soft, irregular fluttering that suggested the
intermittent struggle of some feeble winged creature. It occurred to me
that a wounded bat or bird might have flown into the room and might be
struggling on the floor out of sight near the foot of the bed. And I
was about to get up and investigate when the flame of the candle sank
a little, and I became aware that the temperature of the room was
perceptibly colder.

I picked up my note-book at once and made an entry of the circumstances,
and the exact time.

When I looked up again, the sound of fluttering had ceased and the
candle was once more burning brightly; but I now perceived a kind of
uncertain vagueness that was apparently trying to climb on to the rail
at the foot of the bed. When I first saw it, it could not be described
as a form. It had rather the effect of a patch of dark mist, with an
irregular and changing outline, that obscured to a certain extent the
furnishings of the room immediately behind it. I must confess, however,
that my observations at this point were not so accurate as they should
have been, owing to the sudden realisation of my stupidity in not having
brought a camera and flashlight apparatus. The Slipper-tons had prepared
me for poltergeists, and I was, at that moment, distinctly annoyed at
being confronted with what I presumed to be an entirely different class
of phenomenon. Indeed, I was so annoyed that I was half inclined to blow
out the candle and go to sleep. I wish, now, that I had....

The Psychical Researcher paused and sighed deeply. Then producing a
large note-book from his pocket, he continued, despondently:

I