The unknown stepped out of the loose slippers he wore, mounted the platform, put on the silk robe, and sat down in the chair. Judge Hobart made a formal statement that the perfor-- that their guest had neither properties nor apparatus concealed about his person. Then he sat down, and silence filled the room. "We are ready," President Taunton said. The stranger smoothed from his lips the smile which had curled them when Judge Hobart so nearly spoke of him as the "performer." He rose, and stood on the slab before his chair. "I must say a word or two by way of preface," he began, in a voice cultivated and pleasant. "In the first place, I have no concealed motive in coming here to-night. I am not even--as I shall convince you before we are done--gratifying my vanity by advertising my powers. It has seemed to me that the Club is not on the right track, and although in one sense it is none of my business, I am interested in the subject which it is, as I understand, the object of this body to investigate. The paper by Judge Hobart in a recent number of the 'Agassiz Quarterly' decided me to show to him that certain forces which he conclusively proves to be non-existent do, nevertheless, exist. As I am personally known to perhaps half the gentlemen in the room, and am likely to meet some of them not infrequently, I take the liberty of asking that if any one shall chance to recognize me, he will remember that I come on the condition that my identity remain concealed. The President," he continued, "will bear me out when I say that I have not seen the things provided for use this evening, and that I had no knowledge of the place appointed for the meeting. The dressing-gown I sent him because the scantiness of my dress makes it rather a necessity. I presume that he has examined it carefully enough to be sure that it is innocent of witchery and of trickery." He paused for a moment, and then in a tone somewhat more determined went on. "One thing I must add. I decline to answer any questions whatever in regard to the means which produce the effects to which I shall call your attention. Those from whom I have learned would be sufficiently unwilling that I exhibit my power at all, and were there no other reason, their wishes would be sufficient to prevent me from offering information or explanation. I may not succeed in doing all that I shall attempt. I have laid out a pretty serious evening's work, especially for one who lives as I do amid unfavorable conditions; and of course I can receive no assistance from my audience." He took off the dressing-gown and dropped it into the chair. Then he removed from his finger a large seal ring, and laid it between his feet on the resinous slab. "I wish to show you first," the stranger said, "that if I chose, I could manage to deceive you into thinking that I accomplished much that I did not really do. For instance, I perhaps at this moment look to you like an elephant."