table. It was exquisitely made, and contained two ordinary
hinged school-slates, with the inner sides visible, but protected by a
heavy plate of glass. "This message came to me through Angelica
Cox--under test conditions," Pratt further explained, as Kate bent
above it.

"What do you mean by test conditions?" asked Britt.

"I mean, sir, that I bought and took these slates to the medium, and
held them in my hands while that message was written." There was
irritation in his voice. He replaced the drawer. "But here is a
painting from Murillo, the great artist. He painted the face of one of
the ancients." He laid before his silent auditors another drawer which
contained a sheet of card-board on which was a fairly good pastel of
an Arab in a burnouse. It had the weak and false drawing which would
result in the attempt of an amateur to copy an engraving in color.
"This came in broad daylight while I held the clean card-board on my
head," explained Simeon.

Britt looked at Kate. "The painter might have stood on his head," he
blasphemously whispered.

And so down through that splendid room the host moved, exhibiting
letters from Napoleon, flowers from Marie Antoinette, verses from Mary
Queen of Scots, together with paternal advice from many others equally
eminent in history.

"You keep good company," ventured Kate. "Have you anything from
Shakespeare?"

"Certainly; and from Edwin Forrest and Lincoln and Grant."

"Anything from Admiral Kidd?" asked Britt.

"Or from Mary Jane Holmes?" added Kate.

Simeon looked at the jokers in silence, not quite sure whether they
intended to trap him or not. "No, I save only the words of the most
eminent persons in history, outside my own family--I have wonderful
testimony from them."

"Ah, show us those, please," cried Kate.

He hesitated, pondering Britt's face, and at last said, "I will show
you some materializations," and led the way to some cases filled with
pressed flowers. "These are from India and Tibet," he explained.

Kate was getting bored, but Britt seemed fascinated by both Pratt and
the exhibit. "To think of one human being possessing a collection like
that--painfully amassing it. It's too beautiful!"

"But the girl--ask him to let us see the girl," she urged.

"Don't hurry; he can't be turned aside from his groove."

The treasures of the drawers hinted at, Simeon proceeded to exhibit
other wonders. He possessed a coin brought from the sacred city of
Lhasa and d