She paused, as if to permit Karl to give some hint that he already possessed the clue to her wanderings in the maze of intangible things. He helped her by saying: “We have a story to tell, Miss Hutchinson. I, too, have undergone some extraordinary experiences, but most certainly I did not encounter you in spirit-land while you crossed the Atlantic. I may say that I endeavored to do so, for reasons that shall be made clear, but I failed.” She smiled delightedly. It occurred to me that Karl had said exactly that which she wanted him to say. I pictured Hooper reveling in analytical hair-splitting when we related this conversation to him. Nevertheless, the solution of this latest problem in occultism baffled both him and me for many a day. “I will pass from Steindal and Constantine,” she said, “and come to the next phase of my novel experience. Their voices ceased, and I seemed to recover some sense of my true surroundings. I knew I was at sea in a moving vessel. I could feel the vibration of the propeller, but the only human being of whose presence I was conscious was you, Mr. Grier.” “What an unreceptive soul I must possess!” cried Karl, gallantly. “You came and took hold of my left hand,” she went on. “You said, ‘Maggie, don’t you remember me? I am Karl Grier.’ I think I endeavored to reply, but the words seemed to die away in my throat. You bent over me and told me not to accept the contract Steindal’s agent would offer me at Liverpool. Then, you gave me a lot of news about yourself and your father and mother. The years seemed to slip back until we were children again in the Kalanullah tea-garden. I don’t believe I have ever been so delighted as I was by the knowledge that we had both gone back to our childhood. Have you really no knowledge whatever of all this?” Hooper himself could not have discharged that final question with more unexpected forensic skill than did this mere girl. It seemed to afford her the supreme test of his assurance. Thenceforth, she gave herself no further trouble on that point. Her natural vivacity now replaced the somewhat hysterical restraint which she had exercised hitherto. She told us that she had both seen Karl and heard his voice on three subsequent occasions, and these visitations, though in no way alarming while they lasted, were so mysterious in their semblance of actuality, and dwelt so constantly in her thoughts, that her mother, to whom she had related each incident after its occurrence, determined to seek an interview with Karl, at the earliest opportunity which presented itself on their arrival in England. The mother bore out her daughter’s story at all points, though she stoutly held to the opinion that the whole affair was the outcome of over-study--Maggie having worked very hard during her visit to the States--combined with the exercise of some telepathic gift which Karl had undoubtedly exercised when a child.