tention to crush him to
death. A feeling of suffocation would come over him, and he would
gasp, choke, beat the air with his arms, be at the verge of losing
consciousness, when there would be a loud, mocking laugh--and the
walls and ceiling would be in their proper places again. At other
times he would see strange figures on the wall--numbers of circles,
that would keep on revolving in the most bewildering fashion. Then,
suddenly, they would leave the wall and slowly approach him,
increasing in circumference; and the same thing would happen, as
happened with the wall and ceiling; he would undergo the whole
sensation of asphyxiation, and be on the brink of swooning, when there
would be a loud peal of evil, satirical laughter, and the circles
would instantly disappear.

Sometimes the bedclothes would assume extraordinary shapes; sometimes
the articles on his dressing-table; sometimes his clothes; and once,
when he was about to put on his bedroom slippers, he found them
already occupied--occupied by icy cold feet. Another time, when he put
out his hand to take hold of a tumbler, he put it on the back of
another hand--smooth, cold and pulpy!

Hardly a night passed without some sort of manifestation happening to
one or other of the trio, and even Curtis--fat and stolid
Curtis--began to lose flesh and look harassed.

On the eve of the initiation into stage four, the three, separating
for the night, retired to their respective quarters in a far from
pleasant state of expectation.

Hamar was undressing, when there came a loud ring at the telephone,
outside his door.

"Holloa!" he called out, "who are you?"

"Are you Mr. Hamar?" a voice asked, breathlessly.

Hamar replied in the affirmative, and the voice continued--

"I'm Mrs. Anderson-Waite, of 30 Queen's Mansions, Queen's Gate. I have
been holding a seance here, with some of my friends, and most
extraordinary things have happened, and are still happening. There are
violent knockings on the wall and ceiling, and the table has become
positively dangerous. It has repeatedly sprung into the air, and
savagely assaulted several of the sitters. It has thrown one lady on
to the floor, and despite our efforts to prevent it, has rampled on
her so viciously that she is badly hurt, and the doctor who has just
arrived thinks very seriously of it. We wanted to stop, but some
strange power seems to be forcing us to go on. The table has rapped
out your name and address, and says i