There it spread, and hovered over the group, until it seemed to work them together--the Nervina to Harry, the Aradna to Hobart. Not one of them knew what it was; they obeyed by impulse--it was their destiny; the Chosen, and the queens. The light stopped at the foot of Dr. Holcomb. Then the strangest thing happened. Out of the light--or rather, from where it bathed the snowstone--came a man; a man much like Holcomb, bearded and short and kindly. He was the real Jarados! Unhesitatingly the professor stepped up beside him. Then followed Hobart and the Aradna, Harry and the Nervina, and lastly, from the crowd of Bars, MacPherson. The whole concourse in the temple stopped in awe and terror. Only for a second. Then the Jarados and all at his side--were gone. And upon the snow-stone there stood a sword of living flame. It stood there for just a breath, exactly where the group had been. And it was gone. That was all. No; not quite all. For when the Blind Spot closed that night at 288 Chatterton Place, there came once more the deep, solemn peal of the Bell of the Jarados. XLVIII THE UNACCOUNTABLE Were this account merely a work of fiction, it would harmonise things so as to have no unaccountables in it. As it is, the present writers will have to make this quite clear: It is not known why the Rhamda Avec failed to show himself at the crucial moment. Perhaps he could have changed everything. We can only surmise; he has not been seen or heard from since. Which also is true of Mr. Chick Watson. He disappeared immediately after the closing of the Spot, saying that he was going to Bertha Holcomb's home. No trace has been found of either to date. Doubtless the reader has noted advertisement in the papers, appealing to the authorities to report any one of Watson's description applying for a marriage licence. As for his two friends, Wendel and Fenton, together with the Aradna and the Nervina, they and MacPherson and the doctor absolutely vanished from all the knowledge, either of the Thomahlia or the earth. The Jarados alone can tell of them. Mme. Le Fabre, however, feels that she can explain the matter satisfactorily. Abridged, her theory runs: “There is but one way to explore the Occult. That way is to die. “For all that we were so strongly impressed with the reality of Mr. Watson, I am firmly convinced that he was simply a spirit; that everything we saw was spirit manifestation. “Dr. Holcomb and all the rest have simply gone on to another plane. We shall never see them again. They are dead; no other explanation will hold. They are spirits.” Giving this version to the public strictly for what it is worth, the present writers feel it only right to submit the conclusions reached by Dr. Malloy and concurred in by Drs. Higgins and Hansen, also, with reservations, by Professor Herold and by Miss Clarke.