She again patted him on the shoulder with intent to comfort him. "There, there! I don't believe you have anything to reproach yourself for, and, then, remember your mother's beautiful faith. She has not gone far away. Her heaven is not distant. She is very near. She has merely cast off the garment we call flesh. She is here, close beside you, closer than ever before, touching you, knowing what you think and feel." In this way she comforted him, and in a measure drew his mind away from the memory of his cruel and unfilial words. Sill approached her with thoughtful glance. "Are you related to this woman?" "No, I am only a friend," replied Mrs. Joyce; "but this is her son." "When did you discover your mother's present condition?" "This morning." "Did you fold her hands and put her in the position she occupies?" "No, that is the strange thing. When I left her last night she was--she was lying across the bed, face downward. I had just told her that I was going away and that I wanted her to go with me. She refused to do this and tried to get The Voices to speak to her. They would not come, and so she, being hurt, I suppose, by what I said, ran into the room and flung herself down on the bed, weeping. I was angry at her and did not speak to her again. I went to sleep out here on the couch, and did not see her again till morning. When I looked in at eight o'clock she was lying just as she is now." Sill eyed him keenly. "Do you mean that you quarreled?" Mrs. Joyce interposed. "I can explain that," she said. "Mrs. Ollnee was my friend. She was what is called a medium. She is the Mrs. Ollnee you may have read about in the papers." "Ah!" Sill's tone conveyed a mingling of surprise and increased interest. "So you are the son of Mrs. Ollnee?" he said, turning to Victor. Mrs. Joyce again answered for him. "Yes; he has been away at school; he came home Sunday to comfort and protect his mother; but, unfortunately, he does not accept her faith. He rebelled against her work, and demanded that she give up her Voices. I can understand his wanting her to go away with him, and I can understand also how painful it was to her; but I don't believe that what he said had anything to do with her passing out. She was very frail at best, and has many times said that she expected to leave the body in one of her trances and never again resume her worn-out garment." "She was subject to trances, then?" "Yes, though not strictly a trance-medium, she did occasionally pass out of the body." "May I take your name?" "Certainly; I am Mrs. John H. Joyce, of Prairie Avenue." His manner changed. "Oh yes. I should have known you, Mrs. Joyce, I have seen you before. What you tell me does not explain the disposal of Mrs. Ollnee's body. She must have gone to her death consciously, as if preparing to sleep. Perhaps she intended only to enter a trance." Mrs. Joyce started. "She may be in trance now! Have you thought of that, Doctor?"