Peter had been delighted with it.

"It's too wonderful!" Julie said, amazed. "Now, how do you explain it,
Zizi? We know this to be Peter's own handkerchief. We know he took it to
Labrador with him. How did it get back here? How get into Madame
Parlato's possession? And how appear to you, out of nothingness?"

"Yes," said Benjamin Crane, smiling happily, "answer those questions
satisfactorily, or else admit that it is real materialization!"

Wise looked a little nonplused. Positive though he was of the medium's
trickery, he could not tell Mr. Crane exactly how it had come about.
Materialization was easy enough for a charlatan, but, as had been said,
where could she get the handkerchief to do the trick with?

Convinced of the Cranes' honesty, of course, Wise couldn't doubt that
Peter had taken all the handkerchiefs with him. His luggage had never
been sent home, therefore how did the handkerchief get to New York, and
more especially how did it get to Madame Parlato?

"I can't explain it yet," Wise said, frankly, "but I'll find out all
about it. To you, Mr. Crane, it seems additional proof of your son's
communication through that medium. To me it is additional and very
strong proof of her fraud. Now, we'll leave it at that for the present,
but I promise to explain it to you soon."

"All right, Mr. Wise, you'll not be offended, I trust, if I say I don't
believe you can make good your word. But I'm not surprised at your
attitude. Some minds are almost incapable of belief in the occult, and
will accept the most absurd and far-fetched explanations rather than the
simple and plausible one of spirit communication. I can't understand
such a mental attitude, but I've met so many like you that I'm obliged
to recognize its existence."

"Oh, Mr. Wise," Mrs. Crane said, "it does seem so strange that a
clear-headed, deep-thinking man like yourself prefers to believe that
Madame Parlato could get Peter's handkerchief and could produce it so
mysteriously for you rather than the rational belief that Peter sent it
himself."

Zizi looked at the speaker with kindly eyes.

"Dear Mrs. Crane," she said, "what will hurt me most when we expose that
medium's fraud is the fact of your disappointment."

"Don't worry about that," smiled Benjamin Crane, "you haven't exposed
her yet! Meantime, I shall incorporate this experience of the
handkerchief in my next book."

"Oh, don't!" cried Zizi, involuntarily. "You'll make yourself a
laughing