onnie. I _did_ think him selfish, and I _do_."

"My dear angel," said Dr. Dick, "we are all selfish, every mother's son
of us; and it is you blessed women who make us so."

She looked at him, with softening eyes. "_You_ are not selfish, Dick,"
she said.

"I am," he answered; "and a long chalk worse than Ronnie. I combine
ambition with my selfishness. I jolly well mean to get to the top of the
tree, and I don't care how I get there. I down every one who dares stand
in my way; or--I use them as stepping-stones. There! Isn't that a worse
Upas tree than poor old Ronnie's? Mine is a life untouched by love, or
any gentler feelings. All that sort of thing was killed in me when I was
quite a little chap. It is the story of a broken halo. Perhaps I'll tell
it you some day. Meanwhile, this being Christmas Eve and not Ash
Wednesday, I'll make no more confessions. Don't you want to hear the
result of my psychic investigations, concerning our mirror experiences?"

"Exceedingly," said Helen. "Have you time to tell me now?"

"Heaps of time. It won't take long. Last night I told the whole story to
a man who makes a special study of these matters, and knows more about
things psychic than any other man in England. The Brands asked me to
dinner and arranged to have him also. After dinner he and I went down
alone to the doctor's consulting room, and talked the whole thing out. I
was careful to mention no names. You don't want to be credited with a
haunted room at the Grange, neither do we want Ronnie's name mixed up
with psychical phenomena. Now I will give you this man's opinion and
explanation, exactly as he gave it to me. Only, remember, I pass it on
as his. I do not necessarily endorse it.

"He holds that inanimate objects, such as beds, walls, cupboards,
staircases, have a power of receiving, absorbing and retaining
impressions transmitted to them through contact with human minds in
extreme conditions of stress and tension. This would especially be the
case with intimately personal things, such as musical instruments, or
favourite chairs. Old rooms and ancient furniture might retain these
impressions for centuries; and, under certain circumstances, transmit
them to any mind, with which they came in contact, happening to be
strung up to the right key to respond to the psychic impression. He
considers that this theory accounts for practically all ghost stories
and haunted rooms, passages, and staircases. It reduces all apparitions