His voice had lowered. There was mystery in his manner. He sat back in his chair, picked up his pipe, replaced it in his mouth unlighted, and waited. Minks pulled himself together. His admirable qualities as a private secretary now came in. Putting excitement and private speculations of his own aside, he concentrated his orderly mind upon replies that should be models of succinct statement. He had practised thought- control, and prided himself upon the fact. He could switch attention instantly from one subject to another without confusion. The replies, however, were, of course, drawn from his own reading. He neither argued nor explained. He merely stated. 'Those who have taken the trouble to study the evidence believe,' he began, 'that it is established, though its laws are as yet unknown. Personally, if I may quote myself, I do believe it.' 'Quite so, quite so. Do quote yourself--that's what I want--facts. But you refer to deliberate experiments, don't you?' 'In my own case, yes, Mr. Rogers, although the most successful thought-transference is probably unconscious and not deliberate---' 'Such as, for instance---' 'Public opinion,' replied Minks, after a moment's search, 'which is the result of waves of thought sent out by everybody--by a community; or by the joint thinking of a nation, again, which modifies every mind born into that nation, the result of' centuries of common thinking along definite familiar channels. Thought-currents rush everywhere about the world, affecting every one more or less, and--er-- particularly lodging in minds receptive to them.' 'Thought is dynamic, then, they hold?' 'An actual force, yes; as actual as electricity, and as little understood,' returned the secretary, proud that he had read these theories and remembered them. 'With every real thought a definite force goes forth from you that modifies every single person, and probably every single object as well, in the entire world. Thought is creative according to its intensity. It links everybody in the world with everybody else---' 'Objects too, you say?' Rogers questioned. Minks glanced up to make sure there was no levity in the question, but only desire for knowledge. 'Objects too,' he replied, apparently satisfied, 'for science tells us that the movement of a body here affects the farthest star. A continuous medium--ether--transmits the vibrations without friction-- and thought-force is doubtless similarly transmitted--er---' 'So that if I think of a flower or a star, my thought leaps into them and affects them?' the other interrupted again.