Agnes so that she will go to any length to plague her. She stole her pearls, she stole her emeralds. Now the pearls have been recovered. If Madame Agnes were to put them on again, do not you think that she could come and try to repossess them?"
"It's possible."
"Possible, pardieu? It is more than possible; it is likely!"
"Well"
"Yes, my friend, I think that it is well. Ghostly manifestations, materializations of spirit-forms, are peculiarly creatures of the darkness and the twilight. Bright sunlight seems to kill them as it kills spore-bearing germs. So do certain forms of sound-vibration, the sonorous notes of church bells and of certain kinds of gongs, for instance. High-frequency electric currents, the emanations of radium salt or the terrific penetrative force of Röntgen rays should have the same effect, n'est-ce-pas?"
"I suppose so, but I can't say that I understand."
"No matter, that is not essential. But if you will wait I'll show you what I mean before you are much older. Meantime, the hour is late, the bottle empty and I have much to do tomorrow. Come let us go to bed."
"All is prepared," he informed me the next night at dinner. "I had some little difficulty in assembling my armament, but at last I have it all complete. We are ready to proceed at your convenience."
"Proceed? Where?"
"To Monsieur Taviton's. He telephoned me that the imitation pearls are ready, and—corbleu, I think that we shall see what we shall see tonight!"
The Tavitons were waiting for us in their drawing-room. Always poised and calm, Agnes nevertheless displayed something of that look of mingled hope and apprehension shown by relatives when someone dear to them has undergone a major operation. Looking at her pleading eyes, I almost expected to hear the old familiar "How is he doing, Doctor?" as I took her hand in greeting. Frazier was plainly on the rough edge of collapse, his movements jerky, eyes furtive, voice sharpened to the point of shrillness.
"You're sure that it will work?" he asked de Grandin.
"As sure as one can be of anything—which is, hélas, not very sure at all," the Frenchman answered. "However, we can make the effort, eh, my friend?"
"What" I began, but he motioned me to silence.
"Madame," he bowed to Agnes in his courtly foreign fashion, "you are ready?"
"Quite, Doctor," she replied, rising to cross the hall and spin the handles of the wall-safe. The tumblers clicked, the little door fell open, and from the strongbox she removed a long jewel-case of night-black plush. For a moment she regarded it half fearfully, then snapped it open, drew out the strand of gleaming pearls it held and clasped it round her throat.
"Why, those are surely not an imi" I began when a brutal kick upon my shin warned me de Grandin wished me to keep silent.
Scarcely whiter than their wearer's slender throat, the sea-gems glinted luminously as Agnes joined us in the drawing-room, cast an apprehensive glance around, then sank down in a chair beside the empty fireplace.
"Brandy or cream?" she asked matter-of-factly, busying herself with the coffee service on the table at her knee.
"Brandy, s'il vous plait," de Grandin answered, rising to receive his cup and snapping off the light-switch as he did so.
We were playing at the social amenities, but the very air was pregnant with
