s he expressly
said, there was nothing to be alarmed about. Yet he had written.

Maggie stopped at the lower end of the orchard path, took out the
letter, and read the last three or four sentences again:

Please forgive me if you think it was unnecessary to
write. Of course I have no doubt whatever that the whole
thing is nothing but nonsense; but even nonsense can have
a bad effect, and Mr. Baxter seems to me to be far too
much wrapped up in it. I enclose the address of a friend
of mine in case you would care to write to him on the
subject. He was once a Spiritualist, and is now a devout
Catholic. He takes a view of it that I do not take; but at
any rate his advice could do no harm. You can trust him to
be absolutely discreet.

Believe me,
Yours sincerely,
James Morton

It really was very odd and unconventional; and Mr. Morton had not
seemed at all an odd or unconventional person. He mentioned, too, a
particular date, February 25, as the date by which the medium would
have returned, and some sort of further effort was going to be made;
but he did not attempt to explain this, nor did Maggie understand it.
It only seemed to her rather sinister and unpleasant.

She turned over the page, and there was the address he had
mentioned--a Mr. Cathcart. Surely he did not expect her to write to
this stranger....

She walked up and down with her spud for another half-hour before she
could come to any conclusion. Certainly she agreed with Mr. James
Morton that the whole thing was nonsense; yet, further, that this
nonsense was capable of doing a good deal of harm to an excitable
person. Besides, Laurie obviously had a bad conscience about it, or he
would have mentioned it.

She caught sight of Mrs. Baxter presently through the thick hedge,
walking with her dainty, dignified step along the paths of the kitchen
garden; and a certain impatience seized her at the sight. This boy's
mother was so annoyingly serene. Surely it was her business, rather
than Maggie's own, to look after Laurie; yet the girl knew perfectly
well that if Laurie was left to his mother nothing at all would be
done. Mrs. Baxter would deplore it all, of course, gently and
tranquilly, in Laurie's absence, and would, perhaps, if she were hard
pressed, utter a feeble protest even in his presence; and that was
absolutely all....

"Maggie! Maggie!" came the gentle old voice, calling presently; and
then t