you a dream which--terrified me on the
previous night?"

Dr. Cairn nodded, frowning darkly.

"Repeat your account of the former dream," he said. "I regard it as
important."

"In my former dream," the girl resumed--and her voice had an odd,
far-away quality--"the scene was the same, except that the light of
the lamp was shining down upon the leaves of an open book--a very,
very old book, written in strange characters. These characters
appeared to dance before my eyes--almost as though they lived."

She shuddered slightly; then:

"The same iron box, but open, stood upon the table, and a number of
other, smaller, boxes, around it. Each of these boxes was of a
different material. Some were wooden; one, I think, was of ivory; one
was of silver--and one, of some dull metal, which might have been
gold. In the chair, by the table, Antony was sitting. His eyes were
fixed upon me, with such a strange expression that I awoke, trembling
frightfully--"

Dr. Cairn nodded again.

"And last night?" he prompted.

"Last night," continued Myra, with a note of trouble in her sweet
voice--"at four points around this table, stood four smaller lamps and
upon the floor were rows of characters apparently traced in luminous
paint. They flickered up and then grew dim, then flickered up again,
in a sort of phosphorescent way. They extended from lamp to lamp, so
as entirely to surround the table and the chair.

"In the chair Antony Ferrara was sitting. He held a wand in his right
hand--a wand with several copper rings about it; his left hand rested
upon the iron box. In my dream, although I could see this all very
clearly, I seemed to see it from a distance; yet, at the same time, I
stood apparently close by the tables--I cannot explain. But I could
hear nothing; only by the movements of his lips, could I tell that he
was speaking--or chanting."

She looked across at Dr. Cairn as if fearful to proceed, but presently
continued:

"Suddenly, I saw a frightful shape appear on the far side of the
circle; that is to say, the table was between me and this shape. It
was just like a grey cloud having the vague outlines of a man, but
with two eyes of red fire glaring out from it--horribly--oh! horribly!
It extended its shadowy arms as if saluting Antony. He turned and
seemed to question it. Then with a look of ferocious anger--oh! it was
frightful! he dismissed the shape, and began to walk up and down
beside the table, but never beyond the l