Note: Images of the original pages are available through HathiTrust Digital Library. See https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/008921437 Transcriber’s note: Italicized text is surrounded by underscores: _italics_. VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE by E. F. BENSON . . Author of “Dodo Wonders,” “Miss Mapp,” “Colin,” etc. :: :: London: Hutchinson and Co. Paternoster Row, E.C. Printed in Great Britain at the Pitman Press, Bath CONTENTS PAGE “AND THE DEAD SPAKE----” 7 THE OUTCAST 37 THE HORROR-HORN 63 MACHAON 83 NEGOTIUM PERAMBULANS 107 AT THE FARMHOUSE 131 INSCRUTABLE DECREES 155 THE GARDENER 177 MR. TILLY’S SÉANCE 199 MRS. AMWORTH 223 IN THE TUBE 247 RODERICK’S STORY 269 “And the Dead Spake----” “And the Dead Spake----” There is not in all London a quieter spot, or one, apparently, more withdrawn from the heat and bustle of life than Newsome Terrace. It is a cul-de-sac, for at the upper end the roadway between its two lines of square, compact little residences is brought to an end by a high brick wall, while at the lower end, the only access to it is through Newsome Square, that small discreet oblong of Georgian houses, a relic of the time when Kensington was a suburban village sundered from the metropolis by a stretch of pastures stretching to the river. Both square and terrace are most inconveniently situated for those whose ideal environment includes a rank of taxicabs immediately opposite their door, a spate of ’buses roaring down the street, and a procession of underground trains, accessible by a station a few yards away, shaking and rattling the cutlery and silver on their dining tables. In consequence Newsome Terrace had come, two years ago, to be inhabited by leisurely and retired folk or by those who wished to pursue their work in quiet and tranquillity. Children with hoops and scooters are phenomena rarely encountered in the Terrace and dogs are equally uncommon.