ok,
yourself?"

"A spook? I can't remember that I ever----"

"Yes, a ghost."

"A ghost," repeated Grimm with the utmost solemnity and wrinkling his
forehead as in an effort of memory. "I can't just now recall----"

"That's right! Make fun of me! But you can't tell that man is
complete--that he doesn't live more than one life;--that the soul
doesn't pass on and on. Smile if you like. Wiser men than yourself have
believed it. Why, man alive, every human being is surcharged with a
persistent personal energy. And that energy must continue forever."

"Oh, Doctor, Doctor!" exclaimed Kathrien, coming in with a fresh supply
of hot waffles. "Have you started on spooks again?"

"Yes, Katje," sighed Peter dolorously. "There can be no possible
redeeming doubt about that. He's started."

"And," laughed the girl, "I wasn't on hand to hear him. Have I missed
very much of it?"

"No," answered her uncle. "We're still in the painful early stages of
the squabble. I'll tell you what I'll do, Andrew: I'll compromise with
you. Instead of making the bargain you proposed, I'll stand aside and
let _you_ go ahead of me into the next world. Then you can come back at
your leisure and keep the spook compact. It'll be quite interesting.
Every time a knock sounds or a chair creaks or a door bangs or Lad
growls in his sleep, I'll strike an attitude and say: 'Ssh! There's
Doc!'"

"Don't guy me, old friend," urged McPherson. "I'm entirely serious. I'll
make the promise and I want _you_ to make it, too. Understand, I'm no
so-called Spiritist. I'm just a groping seeker after the Truth."

"That's what they all say," scoffed Grimm. "Seekers after the truth! And
madly eager to believe everything they hear or read _except_ the
commonsense truth. And you, a level-headed Scotchman, old enough to be
your own father, actually gulp down such tomfoolery! Next we'll have you
chasing around the streets at night, looking with a dark lantern for the
bogey man."

"Laugh at me if you like. I know I'm right. I know the dead _are_ alive.
They're here. Right here. They're all about us, watching us, suffering
with us, rejoicing with us, trying no doubt to speak the warnings and
encouragements that our world-deafened mortal ears cannot hear. I'm not
alone in the theory. Some of the greatest scientists--the wisest men of
the century--are of the same opinion."

"Dreamers," smiled Grimm indulgently. "Dreamers like yourself."

"Dreamers, eh?" The doctor caught hi