m up vehemently. "_Dreamers?_ You
can't call Sir William Crookes, the inventor of the Crookes' Tubes, a
dreamer! No, nor Sir Oliver Lodge, the great biologist; or Curie, who
discovered radium; or Dr. Lombroso, the founder of the science of
criminology. Are Maxwell, Dr. Vesine, Richet, and our own American, Dr.
Hyslop, _dreamers_? Why, even Professor James, the mighty Harvard
psychologist, took a peep at ghosts. And, instead of laughing at
'spooks,' the big scientific men are trying to lay hold of them. I tell
you, Peter, Science is just beginning to peer through the half-open door
that a few years ago was shut tight."

"Trying to lay hold of ghosts, are they?" said Grimm. "I'd like to lay
hold of one. I'd lug it to the nearest police station. That's the place
for 'em. Just as the asylum's the place for folks who believe in 'em.
When you 'pass over,' Andrew, you'd better not come back. You won't
enjoy prowling around a world where sane people don't believe you
exist."

"Peter," reproved McPherson, "I'm sorry--very, _very_ sorry--that you
and others like you think it's smart to make a joke of something you
can't understand. Hyslop was right when he said Man will spend millions
of dollars to discover the North Pole, but not one cent to throw a ray
of light upon his immortal destiny."

"And, after the millions of times they've been exposed, you blame me for
not joining in your belief in spook mediums!"

"A lot of mediums are humbugs, I grant you. Just as there are fakers in
every profession. If there were no such thing as real money, there would
be no object in making counterfeits. And some of the mediums have proven
clearly that they are capable of real demonstrations."

"They are, hey? What's the use of mediums at all if the dead can really
come back? If my friends who have died return to earth, why don't they
walk straight up to me and say, 'Well, Peter Grimm. Here we are!' When
they do that, I shall gladly be the first man to take off my hat to them
and hold out my hand. But as long as they have to employ greasy mediums
to make their presence known, and try to prove they are with me by
knocking on tables and tipping chairs and scratching on slates, there is
only one of two things to believe: Either mediums are fakes, or else
folks all become imbecile practical jokers as soon as they die."

"Imbecile practical jokers!" repeated Kathrien, shocked.

"Yes," reiterated Peter Grimm. "That's what I said. And it's a mild