XI. A Remarkable Conversation 124 XII. The Séance 138 XIII. The Debacle 148 XIV. Coming Events cast their Shadow Before 164 XV. Dr. Riche makes a Remarkable Discovery 176 XVI. The Shadow of Death 189 XVII. Emile Visits his Friend Pierre with most Unpleasant Consequences 202 XVIII. Facilis Descensus Averni 214 XIX. The Vigil 223 XX. The New Jerusalem Gold Mine 239 XXI. Marcel makes an Unexpected Acquaintance 256 XXII. Violette Nursers her Father with Alarming Results 270 XXIII. At Beaulieu 281 XXIV. The Professor Discourses on Gambling 297 XXV. Delapine tries his hand at the Tables 310 XXVI. Nemesis 324 XXVII. In which Delapine finds himself Famous, and the Party Breaks up with the Happiest Results 338 The Weird Adventures of Professor Delapine CHAPTER I THE CAFE AT THE CORNER OF THE "BOULE MICHE" The man who cannot wonder, who does not habitually wonder ... is but a pair of spectacles, behind which there is no eye. Carlyle (_Sartor Resartus_, Bk. I. ch. x.) Ships that pass in the night, and speak each other in passing, Only a signal shown, and a distant voice in the darkness; So on the ocean of life we pass and speak one another, Only a look and a voice, then darkness again and a silence. Longfellow--_The Dinner at the Villebois' House_, pt. iv. "Comment ça va, monsieur le docteur? Pardon that I interrupt your reverie." The greeting was addressed to a gentleman below middle age who was seated before one of the little round tables at the corner of one of the side streets leading into the Boulevard Michel. He was idly toying with a small glass of eau sucrée between four and five o'clock on a glorious afternoon in the autumn of 19--.