the painful subject again. You
told me last night, dear old friend, that you were absolutely alone at
Widderstone. That is enough. But here we have visible facts, tangible
effects, and there must have been a definite reason and a cause for
them. I believe in the devil, in the Powers of Darkness, Lawford,
as firmly as I believe he and they are powerless--in the long run.
They--what shall we say?--have surrendered their intrinsicality. You can
just go through evil, as you can go through a sewer, and come out on the
other side too. A loathsome process too. But there--we are not speaking
of any such monstrosities, and even if we were, you and I with God's
help would just tire them out. And that ally gone, our poor dear old Mrs
Grundy will at once capitulate. Eh? Eh?'

Through all this long and arduous harangue, consciousness, like the
gradual light of dawn, had been flooding that other brain. And the face
that now confronted Mr Bethany, though with his feeble unaided sight he
could only very obscurely discern it, was vigilant and keen, in every
sharp-cut hungry feature.

A rather prolonged silence followed, the visitor peering mutely. The
black eyes nearly closed, the face turned slowly towards the window, saw
burnt-out candle, comprehensive glass.

'Yes, yes.' he said; 'I'll send for Simon at once.'

'Good,' said Mr Bethany, and more doubtfully repeated 'good.' 'Now
there's only one thing left,' he went on cheerfully. 'I have jotted down
a few test questions here; they are questions no one on this earth could
answer but you, Lawford. They are merely for external proofs. You won't,
you can't, mistake my motive. We cannot foretell or foresee what need
may arise for just such jog-trot primitive evidence. I propose that you
now answer them here, in writing.'

Lawford stood up and walked to the looking-glass, and paused. He put his
hand to his head, 'es,' he said, 'of course; it's a rattling good move.
I'm not quite awake; myself, I mean. I'll do it now.' He took out a
pencil case and tore another leaf from his pocket-book. 'What are they?'

Mr Bethany rang the bell. Sheila herself answered it. She stood on the
threshold and looked across through a shaft of autumnal sunshine at
her husband, and her husband with a quiet strange smile looked across
through the sunshine at his wife. Mr Bethany waited in vain.

'I am just going to put the arch-impostor through his credentials,' he
said tartly. 'Now then, Lawford!' He read o