essage was sent to you from the P. and O. It was by the
agency of Antony Ferrara that I dreamt a dream to-night. In fact it
was no true dream; I was under the influence of--what shall I term
it?--hypnotic suggestion. To what extent that malign will was
responsible for you and I being placed in rooms communicating by means
of a balcony, we probably shall never know; but if this proximity was
merely accidental, the enemy did not fail to take advantage of the
coincidence. I lay watching the stars before I slept, and one of them
seemed to grow larger as I watched." He began to pace about the room
in growing excitement. "Rob, I cannot doubt that a mirror, or a
crystal, was actually suspended before my eyes by--someone, who had
been watching for the opportunity. I yielded myself to the soothing
influence, and thus deliberately--deliberately--placed myself in the
power of--Antony Ferrara--"

"You think that he is here, in this hotel?"

"I cannot doubt that he is in the neighbourhood. The influence was too
strong to have emanated from a mind at a great distance removed. I
will tell you exactly what I dreamt."

He dropped into a cane armchair. Comparative quiet reigned again in
the streets below, but a distant clamour told of some untoward
happening at the harbour.

Dawn would break ere long, and there was a curious rawness in the
atmosphere. Robert Cairn seated himself upon the side of the bed, and
watched his father, whilst the latter related those happenings with
which we are already acquainted.

"You think, sir," said Robert, at the conclusion of the strange story,
"that no part of your experience was real?"

Dr. Cairn held up the antique dagger, glancing at the speaker
significantly.

"On the contrary," he replied, "I _do_ know that part of it was
dreadfully real. My difficulty is to separate the real from the
phantasmal."

Silence fell for a moment. Then:

"It is almost certain," said the younger man, frowning thoughtfully,
"that you did not actually leave the hotel, but merely passed from
your room to mine by way of the balcony."

Dr. Cairn stood up, walked to the open window, and looked out, then
turned and faced his son again.

"I believe I can put that matter to the test," he declared. "In my
dream, as I turned into the lane where the house was--the house of the
mummy--there was a patch covered with deep mud, where at some time
during the evening a quantity of water had been spilt. I stepped upon
that p