at had begun to envelop
him. He had had to do this altogether three or four times, and had
even begun to wonder whether he should be able to resist much longer,
when a sudden trembling of the table had awakened him, alert and
conscious in a moment, and he had sat with every faculty violently
attentive to what should follow.

That trembling was a curious sensation beneath his hands. At first it
was no more than might be caused by the passing of a heavy van in the
street; only there was no van. But it had increased, with spasms and
recoils, till it resembled a continuous shudder as of a living rigid
body. It began also to tilt slightly this way and that.

Now all this, Laurie knew well, meant nothing at all--or rather, it
need not. And when the movement passed again through all the reverse
motions, sinking at last into complete stillness, he was conscious of
disappointment. A moment later, however, as he glanced up again at the
medium in the cabinet, he drew his breath sharply, and Mr. Jamieson,
at the sound, wheeled his head swiftly to look.

There, in the cabinet, somewhere overhead behind the curtain, a faint
but perfectly distinct radiance was visible. It was no more than a
diffused glimmer, but it was unmistakable, and it shone out faintly
and clearly upon the medium's face. By its light Laurie could make out
every line and every feature, the drooping clipped moustache, the
strong jutting nose, the lines from nostril to mouth, and the closed
eyes. As he watched the light deepened in intensity, seeming to
concentrate itself in the hidden corner at the top. Then, with a
smooth, steady motion it emerged into full sight, in appearance like a
softly luminous globe of a pale bluish color, undefined at the edges,
floating steadily forward with a motion like that of an air balloon,
out into the room. Once outside the cabinet it seemed to hesitate,
hanging at about the height of a man's head--then, after an instant,
it retired once more, re-entered the cabinet, disappeared in the
direction from which it had come, and once more died out.

Well, there it had been; there was no doubt about it.... And Laurie
was unacquainted with any mechanism that could produce it.

The clergyman too had seemed affected. He had watched, with
turned-back head, the phenomenon from beginning to end, and at the
close, with a long indrawing of breath, had looked once at Laurie,
licked his dry lips with a motion that was audible in that profound