and
switched on every lamp.

The bemused wits of the victims of Mr. Scott's hypnotic joke could not
immediately respond to this sudden revelation of the truth. Also their
eyes blinked in the new brilliance of projected light. Mrs. Dane-Vereker
was the first to recover speech.

"But where is that wretch Amelie?" she gasped.

"And the Commissary?" demanded Father Anthony.

"And the Old Gentleman?" echoed the Courier.

"Turpin, by the lord Harry!" shouted the Bureaucrat. "But you've eloped
with Mrs. Dane!"

"The guile of an enemy detained me in a damp and poorly ventilated
cave," complained the Professor.

"There was a tramp here with a dog!" moaned the poet.

"The terrace was crowded with police!" cried Peter Brown, "and it was
still daylight!..."

Mr. Scott enjoyed their bewilderment with the cruel calm of the true
psychological investigator.

"You will never see any of those people again," he observed quietly.
"Except poor Amelie, who is in bed this three hours, I invented them
all. Not a bad set of creations, were they?"

A snore from the shadow drew attention to the stertorous oblivion of Mr.
Buck, the retired master printer.

"Buck was my only failure," said the psychical researcher. "He was fast
asleep when I started in. I say nothing of Doctor Pennock; she was too
much for me; but then she knows the game. Nevertheless, she had the
sportsmanship to leave me at it."

By this time signs of considerable indignation were visible among the
dupes of Mr. Scott's inventive skill. The Lady of Fashion recalled
with blushing fury her supposed escapade with the absurd Courier. The
Bureaucrat re-lived his angry helplessness behind the iron grille.
Before, however, anger could break out, the tension gave way to the
irrepressible humour of Peter Brown. Suddenly he began to laugh, and
each moment he laughed more loudly and more shamelessly. One by one the
others joined, until by the healthy wind of merriment every trailing
wisp of irritation was dispelled and blown away. Mr. Scott rose to his
feet.

"You are admirable folk," he said, "the whole collection of you! I am
proud to be associated with so unselfish and humorous an assembly. Let
me make some slight amends for my impertinence. In the first place, I
would ask your pardon for subjecting you without warning or permission
to a most interesting experiment. In the second place, let me tell you a
tale against myself, a tale that shows me in the light of a bewil