to the subjective rather than the objective plane; in other words the
spirit of a murdered man does not return at certain times to the room in
which he was done to death; but his agonised mind, in its last conscious
moments, left an impress upon that room which produces a subjective
picture of the scene, or part of the scene, upon any mind psychically
_en rapport_ with that impress. I confess this idea appeals to me. It
accounts for the undoubted fact that certain old rooms are undeniably
creepy; also that apparitions, unconnected with actual flesh and blood,
have been seen by sane and trustworthy witnesses. It does away with the
French word for ghost--_revenant_. There is no such thing as a
'comer-back,' or an 'earth-bound spirit.' Personally, I do not believe
in immortality, in the usually accepted sense of the word; but I have
always felt that were there such a thing as a disembodied spirit, it
would have something better to do than to walk along old corridors,
frightening housemaids! But, to come to the point, concerning our own
particular experience.

"I carefully told him every detail. He believes that probably the old
Florentine chair and the 'cello had been in conjunction before, and had
both played their part in the scene which was re-acted in the mirror. If
so, poor old Ron was jolly well in for it, seated in the chair, and
holding the 'cello. His already over-excited brain found itself caught
between them. The fitful firelight and the large mirror supplied
excellent mediums for the visualisation of the subjective picture. Of
course, we do not yet know what Ronnie saw. I trust we never shall. It
is to be hoped he has forgotten it. Had you and I seen nothing, we
should unquestionably have dismissed the whole thing as merely a
delirious nightmare of Ronnie's unhinged brain.

"But the undoubted fact remains that we each saw, reflected in that
mirror, objects which were not at that moment in the room. In fact we
saw the _past_ reflected, rather than the _present_. My psychic
authority considers that both our impressions came to us through
Ronnie's mind, and were already fading, owing to the fact that he had
become unconscious. I, coming in later than you, merely saw the
Florentine chair in position. All else in my view of the reflection
appertained to the actual present, into which the long-ago past was then
rapidly merging. But you, coming in a few moments sooner, and being far
more _en rapport_ with the spirit