“Why, she acts so strangely at times. She sits and looks back over her shoulder in such a startled way, and early this morning, after you had gone out, I heard some one cry out in her room and I ran in there to see what was the matter. She was sitting up in bed and brushing the wall about her with a broom. Her face was red, her eyes bright, and she kept saying, ‘Get away with you, you little imps!’ “‘Why, Alice,’ I cried, ‘what ails you?’ She dropped her broom and looked embarrassed when she saw me, and said imploringly, ‘I can’t help it, Nellie! Don’t blame me, I can see such horrible crawling things on the walls. There are all manner of creatures, some on two legs and some on four or more, and they grin and chatter in such a fiendish way I have to fight them.’ And she began to sob. I told her it was only her imagination from disordered nerves, and she ought to have a doctor. But she assured me she was well, physically. One can see, however, from her thinness and pallor that such is not the case.” Mark’s face grew dark and he shut his teeth hard. “Nellie, it all comes from the evil machinations of one man who has been coming here to the house; a spirit-medium, he calls himself, but I imagine him an agent for Satan. He holds seances, and has given Alice books to read until she is filled with his theories. She has been alone too much since mother went home, and has become melancholy and nervous. I am very glad you are with us. Try to keep her cheerful and her mind off those things as much as possible. I need help.” Mrs. Wylie sighed. “Ah, I know what it is, Mark. Horace has been interested in this subject, and I have seen more of it than I enjoy. Horace’s sister in Oakland is a believer and gives up her house to seances and meetings of that sort.” “Indeed, I am surprised that so solid a man as Mr. Wylie should give ear to such nonsense.” “But, Mark, you can’t say it is all nonsense. There are very many bright people who believe in it, though they are perhaps the exceptions; but there is certainly something supernatural about it.” “No, Nellie, I do not think it is supernatural. It is only because we do not understand Nature’s laws and forces that we thus designate the phenomena produced. I really believe the time will come when every phenomenon adduced will be explained from natural hypothesis. Much of it can be now. I am not sure but all of it can.” “I have a friend, Mark, a very sweet young woman, who I am sure would not stoop to deceit, who can do many wonderful things. She can write messages from the spirit world, is clairvoyant, and can, if an article is placed in her hand, describe the owner, his surroundings, etc. I have recently heard that she has developed as a materializing medium.”