"Gentlemen, I say to you that Randolph Carter is not dead; that he is temporarily in an anomalous condition, but that within two or three months at the outside he will be able to appear in proper form and demand the custody of his estate. I am prepared to offer proof if necessary. Therefore I beg that you will adjourn this meeting for an indefinite period." CHAPTER 8 De Marigny and Phillips stared at the Hindoo as if hypnotized, while Aspinwall emitted a series of snorts and bellows. The old attorney's disgust had by now surged into open rage, and he pounded the table with an apoplectically veined fist. When he spoke, it was in a kind of bark. "How long is this foolery to be borne? I've listened an hour to this madman--this faker--and now he has the damned effrontery to say Randolph Carter is alive--to ask us to postpone the settlement for no good reason! Why don't you throw the scoundrel out, de Marigny? Do you mean to make us all the butts of a charlatan or idiot?" De Marigny quietly raised his hand and spoke softly. "Let us think slowly and clearly. This has been a very singular tale, and there are things in it which I, as a mystic not altogether ignorant, recognize as far from impossible. Furthermore--since 1930 I have received letters from the Swami which tally with his account." As he paused, old Mr. Phillips ventured a word. "Swami Chandraputra spoke of proofs. I, too, recognize much that is significant in this story, and I have myself had many oddly corroborative letters from the Swami during the last two years; but some of these statements are very extreme. Is there not something tangible which can be shown?" At last the impassive-faced Swami replied, slowly and hoarsely, and drawing an object from the pocket of his loose coat as he spoke. "While none of you here has ever _seen_ the silver key itself, Messrs. de Marigny and Phillips have seen photographs of it. _Does this look familiar to you?_" He fumblingly laid on the table, with his large, white-mittened hand, a heavy key of tarnished silver--nearly five inches long, of unknown and utterly exotic workmanship, and covered from end to end with hieroglyphs of the most bizarre description. De Marigny and Phillips gasped. "That's it!" cried de Marigny. "The camera doesn't lie. I couldn't be mistaken!" But Aspinwall had already launched a reply. "Fools! What does it prove? If that's really the key that belonged to my cousin, it's up to this foreigner--this damned nigger--to explain how he got it! Randolph Carter vanished with the key four years ago. How do we know he wasn't robbed and murdered? He was half crazy himself, and in touch with still crazier people. "Look here, you nigger--where did you get that key? Did you kill Randolph Carter?" The Swami's features, abnormally placid, did not change; but the remote, irisless black eyes behind them blazed dangerously. He spoke with great difficulty.