s with a deprecating wave of his hand towards Lyon, who
nervously gazed out of the window from under his shaggy brows.

I merely said that these things _were_ sometimes a little wearing.

"But you see, Mr. Pinkerton, this is a peculiarly cruel case--a
peculiarly cruel case. Hem! _I_ know what is cruel in this respect, as I
was once victimized by very much the same sort of a female, though she
was _much younger_. Why, do you know, sir," and here the sympathetic
Harcout's voice fell into a solemn murmur, "that my friend's beloved
wife was scarcely at rest beneath the daisies when this Mrs. Winslow
began worming herself into the confidence of my somewhat impressible
friend here?"

I made no answer, and only took a memorandum of the facts developed, not
forgetting Harcout's statement that he had once been victimized by very
much the same sort of a female.

"She came to Rochester as a shining light among the exponents of our
blessed faith----"

"And what may your religion be?" I asked.

"We believe in the constant communication between mortals and the
occupants of the beautiful spirit home beyond the river."

"Exactly," said I, noticing the remarkable development at the back of
their heads and about their mouths.

"And our friend here, Mr. Lyon," continued Harcout, with his eyes
devoutly raised to the ceiling, "met her at one of our pleasant
seances."

I made another note at this point.

"To be frank--'hem! it's my nature to be frank--" then turning his face
to me and raising his eyebrows inquiringly--"I suppose, Mr. Pinkerton,
it is quite desirable that I should be so?" To which I responded,
"Necessarily so," when he resumed: "To be frank, then, Mr. Lyon was
wonderfully interested in her. In fact, the woman _has_ a strange power
of compelling admiration and even fear--shall I say fear, Mr. Lyon?"

"Guess that's about right," said Mr. Lyon tersely.

"Admiration and fear," repeated Mr. Harcout, as if thinking of something
long gone by, while Lyon chewed more fiercely than ever. "Indeed, Mr.
Pinkerton, she's a superb woman--a superb woman; but a she-devil for all
that!"

I noticed that Harcout's fervor seemed to have come from some similar
experience, and I noted both it and his heated estimate of Mrs. Winslow,
although he remarked that he had never met her.

"Well, my friend here was irresistibly drawn to her, and he has told me
that for a time it seemed that he had found his real affinity. You felt
that way