"Oh dear! Oh dear," said Villebois, almost choking with laughter. "My love, you saw nothing of the kind. I was at your side all the time, and you buried your head under the bedclothes and screamed with fright. I swear I saw nothing until I got up, when I found the whole cause of the disturbance was due to a strange black cat which had got locked up by accident in Madame's wardrobe. It sprang out as I opened it, snarled, and jumped out on our bed, and then bolted out of the room. This was the sole origin of your ghostly spectre and gleaming eyes, while the awful groans you thought you heard were the squeals which came from the little beast as I struck it with my cane when it fled." Everyone roared with laughter, and Madame Villebois became very red and confused, and discreetly held her tongue. A short silence ensued, and then Delapine awoke out of his reverie. "The most astonishing thing about psychic phenomena," said Delapine, "is that nearly all men are profoundly ignorant of the very elements of the subject. The man in the street laughs at them, and the scientific man refuses to examine them, and yet the amount of literature which has been written on the subject is prodigious. These phenomena have been studied, examined, and recorded under strictly scientific conditions for upwards of fifty years, and every man who examines them carefully with an impartial mind, however sceptical he might be when he commenced his investigations, invariably becomes assured of their reality. But do not ask me to explain the phenomena. I confess I know nothing of their cause. As Fontanelle says 'It shows a great lack of intelligence to find answers to questions which are unanswerable.' I am like Faust who exclaims:-- "I've studied now Philosophy, And Jurisprudence, Medicine, And even--alas! Theology, From end to end with labour keen; And here, poor fool! with all my lore I stand no wiser than before.