secured. So long
as a single hand was left free, the doubter would be warranted in
questioning our results.

The next two or three sittings were partial failures--so much so that I
made no record of them. Possibly, conditions were not strict enough. At
any rate, the final and most conclusive sitting came three days later.
It was held in Fowler's house. We followed the conditions of the
previous sitting very closely--the same room, the same table, the same
fastenings as before.

There was present a friend of Fowler's, a young man who was possessed
of some psychic power. We will call him Frank. Fowler and I took entire
charge of the psychic, and her bonds were even more carefully nailed
than before. We began the seance, as before, by putting her to sleep.

Not long after "Maudie" spoke, saying: "_Mr. Mitchell wishes the thread
fastened to mama's hands in the way Mr. Garland desires._"

I fastened a strong thread to each wrist as I had done several times
before, passing the ends under the chair-arm in such wise that any
movement of the psychic would be plainly and instantly detected. We then
returned to our seats, and, though conditions seemed favorable, no
marked phenomena took place; the cone was lifted, it is true, but we
were used to this now, and accepted it as quite commonplace.

At six o'clock the voice of "Maudie" came: "_Please go down to supper.
Mr. Mitchell says he will be able to give you what you ask for after you
return._"

I did not ask to what he referred, but I had in mind the test to prove
the voices independent of the psychic's vocal organs, and at the dinner
we discussed methods by which this could be made clear.

"If they will let me put my hand over her mouth," I said to Fowler, "I
will be satisfied."

"Do you mean that you will believe in spirits?" he smilingly challenged
me.

"Oh, I won't go so far as to promise that, but I confess it would help
to prove their existence."

"We may be about to get something more conclusive than that."

"Let us fix our minds on two things: first, to get the writing, or at
least movement, with every hand controlled; and, second, the voices,
while one of us covers Mrs. Smiley's mouth with a hand."

"Very well," acquiesced Fowler. "But the unexpected is what usually
happens in these performances."

We were gone but twenty minutes, so eager were we for our demonstration.
We found everything quite as when we left: the psychic was asleep, the
fastenings un