"Oh yes; Flammarion secured photos of a table floating in the air. These pictures show conclusively that the psychic had nothing to do with it--at least, not in any ordinary way. Richet succeeded in fixing the apparition of a helmeted soldier on several plates. Crookes photographed 'Katie King' and her medium once or twice, and Fontenay has succeeded in getting clear-cut images of the 'spirit' hands which play round the head of Paladino. But it must be confessed that in Crookes's pictures there is a lack of finality in the negatives. He never succeeded in getting the faces of both 'Katie' and Miss Cook at the same time--and Richet's photographs have a made-up look." Passing abruptly to a low, humming song, I made the attempt to put our psychic to sleep. In a few minutes her hands became cold and began to flutter. At last she threw my fingers away as if she found them scorching hot. Miller's hand was similarly repulsed. She then seemed to pass into quiet sleep, and I said: "Withdraw a little, Miller, but keep your silk thread taut." Almost immediately faint raps came upon the table, and I asked: "Are you there, 'Mitchell'?" Tap, tap, tap--"_Yes._" "Are we sitting right?" Tap, tap, tap--"_Yes_," answered the force, in a grave and deliberate way. "As to these raps," I remarked, "they are easily simulated, but they have been absolutely proven by several of our best investigators. They have been obtained on a sheet of paper held in the air, on pencils, on a strip of cloth, on an open umbrella--under every possible condition. Maxwell secured them by pinching his own ear or by squeezing the arm of his neighbor. I have heard them on a man's shirt-front. They are the first manifestations of intelligent spirit power, and may be regarded in the light of established fact." "I wouldn't be hasty about admitting even that," remarked Miller. "In the dark--or in the light--these obscure sounds may seem very ghostly, and yet be due to purely physical causes." We sat in silence for a few moments, and at last I asked: "Is any spirit present?" Almost immediately a childish voice came from the direction of the psychic, apparently issuing from her lips. "_Mr. Mitchell would like to have you tie the threads to the legs of the table._" "Are you 'Maud?'" I asked. "_Yes, I am Maudie_," she answered. "_Mr. Mitchell wants to try some experiment. He wishes you to tie the threads to the legs of the table._" I confess I didn't like the looks of this, but as a compromise measure I was willing to grant it. "If you don't object, Miller, we will do as the guides desire." He hesitated. "It weakens our test. I don't understand the reason for the demand." "I suggest we yield the point for the present. Perhaps 'they' will permit us to resume the thread a little later. I have found that by apparently meeting the forces half-way at the beginning we often get concessions later which will be of greater value than the tests we have ourselves devised."