pocket, drew out a note-book, holding it still closed on his
knee.

"May I ask you a rather painful question?" he said gently.

Laurie nodded. He felt so secure.

"Would you kindly tell me--first, whether you have seen the grave of
this young girl since you left the country; secondly, whether anyone
happens to have mentioned it to you?"

Laurie swallowed in his throat.

"Certainly no one has mentioned it to me. And I have not seen it since
I left the country."

"How long ago was that?"

"That was ... about September the twenty-seventh."

"Thank you...!" He opened the note-book and turned the pages a moment
or two. "And will you listen to this, Mr. Baxter?--'Tell Laurie that
the ground has sunk a little above my grave; and that cracks are
showing at the sides.'"

"What is that book?" said the boy hoarsely.

The medium closed it and returned it to his pocket.

"That book, Mr. Baxter, contains a few extracts from some of the
things you said during your trance. The sentence I have read is one of
them, an answer given to a demand made by me that the control should
give some unmistakable proof of her identity. She ... you hesitated
some time before giving that answer."

"Who took the notes?"

"Mrs. Stapleton. You can see the originals if you wish. I thought it
might distress you to know that such notes had been taken; but I have
had to risk that. We must not lose you, Mr. Baxter."

Laurie sat, dumb and bewildered.

"Now all you have to do," continued the medium serenely, "is to find
out whether what has been said is correct or not. If it is not
correct, there will be an end of the matter, if you choose. But if it
is correct--"

"Stop; let me think!" cried Laurie.

He was back again in the confusion from which he thought he had
escaped. Here was a definite test, offered at least in good
faith--just such a test as had been lacking before; and he had no
doubt whatever that it would be borne out by facts. And if it
were--was there any conceivable hypothesis that would explain it
except the one offered so confidently by this grave, dignified man who
sat and looked at him with something of interested compassion in his
heavy eyes? Coincidence? It was absurd. Certainly graves did sink,
sometimes--but ... Thought-transference from someone who noticed the
grave...? But why that particular thought, so vivid, concise, and
pointed...?

If it were true...?

He looked hopelessly at the man, who sat smoking quietl