is stranger, who revealed to me
that his name was Glidder, but that in the company of a certain chosen
few he was known intimately as the Keeper of the Salograma, approached
me confidentially, and inquired whether we of our Central Kingdom were
in the habit of receiving manifestations from the spirits of those who
had Passed Beyond.

At the unassumed ingenuousness of this remark I suffered my
impassiveness to relax, as I replied with well-established pride that
although a country which neglected its ancestors might doubtless be
able to produce more of the ordinary or graveyard spectres, we were
unapproachable for the diverse forms and malignant enmity of our
apparitions. Of invisible beings alone, I continued tolerantly, we
had the distinction of being harassed by upwards of seven hundred
clearly-defined varieties, while the commoner inflictions of demons,
shades, visions, warlocks, phantoms, sprites, imps, phenomena, ghosts,
and reflections passed almost without comment; and touching our admitted
national speciality of dragons, the honour of supremacy had never been
questioned.

At this, the agreeable person said that the pleasure he derived from
meeting me was all-excelling, and that I must certainly accompany him to
a meeting-place of this same chosen few the following evening, when,
by the means of sacred expedients, they hoped to invoke the presence
of some departed spirits, and perchance successfully raise a tangible
vision or two. To so fair-minded a proposal I held myself acquiescently,
and then inquired where the meeting-place in question was destined
to be--whether in a ruined and abandoned sanctuary, or upon some
precipitous spot of desolation.

The inquiry was gracefully intended, but a passing cloud of unworthy
annoyance revealed itself upon the upper part of the other's expression
as he replied, "We, the true seekers, despise theatrical accessories,
and, as a matter of act, I couldn't well get away from the office in
time to go anywhere far. To-morrow we meet at my place in the Camden
Road. It's only a three-half-penny tram stage from the Euston and
Tottenham Court corner, so it couldn't be much more convenient for you."
He thereupon gave me an inscribed fragment of paper and mentioned the
appointed hour.

"I'll tell you why I am particularly anxious for you to come to-morrow,"
he said as we were each departing from one another. "Pash--he's the
Reader of the Veda among us--and his people have got hold