g," Douglas went on.

"Did you see it?"

"Yep. Commonplace looking note, advising his sister to drop acquaintance
with Thorpe--he's the man they arrested in the Blair case."

"Where did the note come from?"

"Materialized--out of thin air."

"At a _seance_?"

"No; the brother kindly left it on sister's bureau, I believe."

Peter Crane was bewildered indeed. What sort of performances were going
on, anyhow. And who was at the bottom of all this?

Clearly, he must look into things a little more before he did his final
disappearance!

"Well, Mr. Douglas, you've helped me a whole lot. Now, as I say, I want
mental impressions. Tell me everything you can think of about the
atmosphere of the whole house, the--did you see Mrs. Crane?"

"No, only the old man. There seemed to be quite a lot of people about,
coming and going. We had our interview in Mr. Crane's study, or
library----"

"I know, the small room at the back of the house----"

"Been there?" Douglas looked up quickly.

"Read of it in the book," said Peter, quietly, annoyed at himself for
the slip.

"Yes. Well, there's a table in the middle of the room, and in the drawer
of that table Mr. Crane keeps all the things' materialized by the
medium. I think he expects to get a big collection."

"Oh, Lord!" groaned Peter, "_what_ a mess!"

"Yes, isn't it?" Douglas assumed that the whole subject of Spiritism was
thus referred to.

"Suppose anything happened to shake Mr. Crane's faith?"

"I don't think anything _could_ do that. He's absolutely gullible. He'd
swallow anything. I say, how _do_ you explain it? Why is it that
big-brained, well-balanced men fall for this rot?"

"They can't be really well-balanced,--and then, too, it's largely the
eagerness to believe, the desire for the comfort it brings them that
makes them think they do believe. And a clever medium can do much."

"Sure. But those materializations! Where'd she get the goods?"

"Give it up. Tell me more about Mr. Crane."

So Douglas patiently recounted and repeated all the words of Peter's
father and told of his appearance and manner, under the impression that
he was helping an author with data for a psychological story.

Peter had found Douglas by merely making inquiry for a bright young
reporter, and had made an agreement, satisfactory to both, for him to
try to get the interview with Benjamin Crane, and they would both profit
by it.

He was delighted that Crane had asked the young man