that he would tell his wife. She told Mrs. Batholommey,
the wife of the rector.

When I suggested the compact to Peter Grimm, he pooh-poohed the whole
idea, laughed at me, told me to get such nonsense out of my head.

But I stuck to it. I told him of the incident of the English doctor and
his friend, of the great service that would be done to humanity and
science if he or I could prove that signals could be exchanged between a
land inhabited by the souls of the dead and this mortal earth. At last
he consented.

The rector and his wife called after we had finished our argument, and
Mrs. Batholommey as much as told Peter during the course of the
conversation that he was doomed. Then poor little Willem blabbed the
truth. He had overheard us discussing the matter. Peter reiterated that
he would make the compact with me.

We shook hands on it, we sealed it with a touch of our glasses filled
with Peter Grimm's famous plum brandy.

There was a circus in town, one of those travelling country affairs, and
the parade had passed by the house. Peter gave Willem money to buy
tickets.

That was the last I saw or heard in this life of mortal Peter Grimm,
standing there with a smile on his face.

I had been absent but a few minutes when I heard Kathrien crying my
name. I ran back to the house. Peter Grimm was dead.

Ten days later came the seance described in my enclosure. Later in the
evening I went to Willem's room and had a quiet little talk with him. He
was calm again and spoke freely of what seemed to him an utterly natural
experience. And from that conversation I believe I confirmed still
further what was already established as a fact, so far as I was
concerned. Peter Grimm had kept his compact with me. He had returned!

I wanted to talk with Willem at a time when he was in a normal condition
and not in the thrall of fear. I found him without fever, though weaker
than he had been for several days. I assured him that he had nothing to
fear from Frederik, that all of us were his friends, and that no harm
could come to him.

"Now tell me, Willem," I said, "all about your seeing Uncle Peter this
evening."

"I awoke very thirsty and went downstairs for a drink," the boy told me
in effect. "The ice pitcher felt so cool that I rested my cheek against
it and then I drank some more water. Then I heard some one calling me.

"'Willem, Willem,' a voice said, 'can you hear me? Is there no one in
this house that can hear me?'