The way he said it, more than the words, frightened me. I knew how intense he was, how much his work meant to him. And when he spoke like that I knew--I feared--that Marsten had become emotionally unbalanced. "That's ridiculous," I said. "You can go ahead with your work, regardless. Some of the greatest scientific advances have been made against the popular grain. In fact, most scientific work! Remember Galileo, Newton...." He shrugged. "Matter of temperament. I know my own limitations, my weaknesses. But I _know_ this experiment tonight will work! Listen, Max--I don't care about publicity. I've invited no reporters. I want only these scientists to know, that's all. They're the ones who have to be convinced. To give the field of parapsychology respectability so that the vast resources and brains of science can be turned loose on it, that's all I want." He looked at me intense, earnest. "Max," he whispered, "the rumors that are circulating about me--I've heard about them. They think I'm unbalanced mentally! You've heard that?" I was embarrassed. I had heard. Everyone had. I said, "You're respected as an honest and scholarly man, a genius in the field of psychology. These men, if they speculate at all along that line, think you've deluded yourself by the 'will to believe' in your own experiments. Wishful thinking, some call it. I don't believe anyone thinks your capabilities in normal psychological work have diminished. If anything, they're probably stronger." He managed a thin laugh. "Well," he said. "Tonight will prove something, anyway." I remember the greetings when the other scientists arrived, the slightly embarrassed attempts at conviviality. Within half an hour all of the nine men arrived and were seated before Marsten's table. All his former co-professors at the University where Marsten no longer taught. I could see that Marsten was obsessed almost as much with proving that these men's lack of faith in him was wrong, as he was in proving his own theories right. I felt apprehensive as Marsten started to talk. But as his self-confidence, his obvious faith in himself began to show, I felt better. His enthusiasm and confidence was so contagious that it even affected the nine scientists so that they, too, became more interested than embarrassed. "Gentlemen," Marsten was saying, "you know from my letters why you have been asked here. Needless to say, I am grateful beyond words that you came to be shown proof of what you've refused so far to believe--and with good cause. Tonight I shall demonstrate scientifically the existence of mental telepathy. I shall prove to all of you in an interrelated and undeniable way so that there will be no doubt concerning my facts. No doubt whatsoever." No one else said anything. Feet shuffled and there was a cough or two. All of them knew what this would mean if Marsten could prove his theories; what it would mean to him if he failed.