horror, doubting whether I was not out of my senses; but
the Stranger continued: "Surely you must now see that my explanation,
and no other, suits the phenomena. What you call Solid things are
really superficial; what you call Space is really nothing but a great
Plane. I am in Space, and look down upon the insides of the things of
which you only see the outsides. You could leave this Plane yourself,
if you could but summon up the necessary volition. A slight upward or
downward motion would enable you to see all that I can see.

"The higher I mount, and the further I go from your Plane, the more I
can see, though of course I see it on a smaller scale. For example, I
am ascending; now I can see your neighbour the Hexagon and his family
in their several apartments; now I see the inside of the Theatre, ten
doors off, from which the audience is only just departing; and on the
other side a Circle in his study, sitting at his books. Now I shall
come back to you. And, as a crowning proof, what do you say to my
giving you a touch, just the least touch, in your stomach? It will not
seriously injure you, and the slight pain you may suffer cannot be
compared with the mental benefit you will receive."

Before I could utter a word of remonstrance, I felt a shooting pain in
my inside, and a demoniacal laugh seemed to issue from within me. A
moment afterwards the sharp agony had ceased, leaving nothing but a
dull ache behind, and the Stranger began to reappear, saying, as he
gradually increased in size, "There, I have not hurt you much, have I?
If you are not convinced now, I don't know what will convince you.
What say you?"

My resolution was taken. It seemed intolerable that I should endure
existence subject to the arbitrary visitations of a Magician who could
thus play tricks with one's very stomach. If only I could in any way
manage to pin him against the wall till help came!

Once more I dashed my hardest angle against him, at the same time
alarming the whole household by my cries for aid. I believe, at the
moment of my onset, the Stranger had sunk below our Plane, and really
found difficulty in rising. In any case he remained motionless, while
I, hearing, as I thought, the sound of some help approaching, pressed
against him with redoubled vigour, and continued to shout for
assistance.

A convulsive shudder ran through the Sphere. "This must not be," I
thought I heard him say: "either he must listen to reason,