II

When the clock struck eight on the evening appointed, the members of the

Club were all present. The room to which they had been summoned by Dr.

Taunton was simply furnished with a table, before which the seats were

arranged in a semicircle, and behind which was a small platform on which

stood a single chair. This platform was raised on blocks of glass, above

which were thin slabs of a substance which to the eye seemed like a sort

of brown resin, in which were to be discerned sparkles of yellow, as of

minute crystals. The chair was in turn insulated in the same manner,

while before it for the feet of the performer was placed a slab of glass

covered with the same resinous substance. On the chair lay a thick robe

of knitted silk. Beneath the table was a trunk containing the articles

of which the President had read a list at the previous meeting.

The members examined everything and handled everything except the

platform and the chair upon it. These they were especially requested

not to touch. At five minutes past eight a carriage was heard to stop

outside, and almost immediately the President came in.

"The gentleman is in the dressing-room," he said, "and is ready for the

examining committee. If the members will be seated, we shall be prepared

to receive him."

The members took their seats, and there was a brief interval of silence.

Then Judge Hobart and Professor Gray, who had gone to the dressing-room,

reëntered. Between them was a tall man, well formed, rather slender,

but showing in his figure some signs of approaching middle age. He wore

simply a single garment of knit silk. It was laced in the back, and

fitted him so tightly that the play of his muscles was as evident as it

would have been in a nude figure. His face was covered down to the lips

by a black mask of silk.

The unknown stepped out of the loose slippers he wore, mounted the

platform, put on the silk robe, and sat down in the chair. Judge Hobart

made a formal statement that the perfor-- that their guest had neither

properties nor apparatus concealed about his person. Then he sat down,

and silence filled the room.

"We are ready," President Taunton said.

The stranger smoothed from his lips the smile which had curled them when

Judge Hobart so nearly spoke of him as the "performer." He rose, and

stood on the slab before his chair.

"I must say a word or two by way of preface," he began, in a voice

cultivated and pleasant. "In the first place, I have no concealed motive

in coming here to-night. I am not even--as I shall convince you before

we are done--gratifying my vanity by advertising my powers. It has

seemed to me that the Club is not on the right track, and although in

one sense it is none of my business, I am interested in the subject

which it is, as I understand, the object of this body to investigate.

The paper by Judge Hobart in a recent number of the 'Agassiz Quarterly'

decided me to show to him that certain forces which he conclusively

proves to be non-existent do, nevertheless, exist. As I am personally

known to perhaps half the gentlemen in the room, and am likely to meet

some of them not infrequently, I take the liberty of asking that if any

one shall chance to recognize me, he will remember that I come on the

condition that my identity remain concealed. The President," he

continued, "will bear me out when I say that I have not seen the things

provided for use this evening, and that I had no knowledge of the place

appointed for the meeting. The dressing-gown I sent him because the

scantiness of my dress makes it rather a necessity. I presume that he

has examined it carefully enough to be sure that it is innocent of

witchery and of trickery."

He paused for a moment, and then in a tone somewhat more determined went

on.

"One thing I must add. I decline to answer any questions whatever in

regard to the means which produce the effects to which I shall call

your attention. Those from whom I have learned would be sufficiently

unwilling that I exhibit my power at all, and were there no other

reason, their wishes would be sufficient to prevent me from offering

information or explanation. I may not succeed in doing all that I shall

attempt. I have laid out a pretty serious evening's work, especially for

one who lives as I do amid unfavorable conditions; and of course I can

receive no assistance from my audience."

He took off the dressing-gown and dropped it into the chair. Then he

removed from his finger a large seal ring, and laid it between his feet

on the resinous slab.

"I wish to show you first," the stranger said, "that if I chose, I could

manage to deceive you into thinking that I accomplished much that I did

not really do. For instance, I perhaps at this moment look to you like

an elephant."

The members of the Psychical Club gasped in astonishment. Surely upon

the platform stood a large white elephant, twisting his pink trunk.

"Or a palm tree," they heard the voice of the stranger say.

No; not an elephant stood on the platform, but a tall and graceful

date-palm, crowned with a splendid cluster of spreading fronds.

"Or Dr. Taunton."

The members looked in amazement from the figure of the President sitting

in his chair, twirling his gold eye-glasses with his familiar gesture,

and his double on the platform, as faithful as a reflection in a mirror,

doing the same thing.

"But all this is mere illusion," the voice went on; "I am none of these

things."

Once more they saw only the silken-clad figure, tall and supple, smiling

under the black mask.

"What I profess to do," the speaker continued, "I shall really do, and

not depend upon cheating your senses. I shall hope to leave you proofs

and evidences to establish this completely. The difficulty of the

different expositions of force is not to be judged by appearances.

First, for instance, I shall show you an exceedingly simple and easy

thing. It has come to be customary, for some foolish reason, to speak of

these phenomena as illustrations of the 'fourth dimension.' The term, I

suppose, is as good as another, since it certainly conveys no definite

idea whatever to people in general. I will ask a couple of gentlemen

to take a pair of interlocked iron rings that I suppose are among the

articles prepared, and to bring them to me. I do not wish to leave my

insulation, as in later trials I shall need all my force."

The rings were taken from the trunk and brought forward. They were of

iron as thick as a man's thumb, were linked together, and firmly welded.

To pull them apart would have been impossible for teams of strong

horses. By the direction of the stranger they were held before him by

the two gentlemen.

"I have asked Dr. Taunton," he said, "to have the rings privately

marked, so as to insure against any possible suspicion of substitution.

I have never seen them."

He leaned forward, and laid his hand lightly on the junction of the

rings. They fell apart instantly. Both were unbroken; and neither gave

the slightest appearance of strain or rupture. A murmur of surprise

circled the room, and then the members of the Club broke into hearty

applause.

The stranger laughed frankly.

"I thank you, gentlemen," he said good-humoredly; "but I am not a

juggler."

He asked next for the cube of wood and for the sealed letter.

"I have never seen either of these," he said, the phrase being repeated

almost with a mechanical indifference. "I suppose that the President or

the person who wrote the letter can identify the note wherever he finds

it."

At his direction President Taunton held up before him the cube with the

letter lying upon it. The stranger laid his hand over the letter, and

then showed an empty palm toward the audience.

"You see I have not taken the letter," he said. "If the saw is there,

please cut the block in two in the middle. Cut it across the grain."

While the sawing was going on, the magician put on his wrap and sat

down. He resumed his signet ring, and sat with his head bowed in his

hands. When the block had been divided, the ends of the letter, cut in

halves, appeared in the midst of the wood.

"I think," the stranger said, "that the two halves of the note will slip

out of the envelope without difficulty, and Dr. Taunton will then be

able to say whether it is the original letter or not."

The president with a little trouble pulled out the pieces of paper and

fitted them together. He examined them critically, even using a

pocket-glass.

"If I had not been deceived earlier in the evening, and if I did not

know that it is wildly impossible," he said, "I should say that this is

my letter."

"'I believe because it is impossible,'" quoted the stranger. "You may

keep the pieces and decide at your leisure."

He rose as he spoke, and once more threw off his robe. The Club waited

breathless. He again placed the ring between his feet.

"I wish now," he said, "the three globes filled with colored fluid."

These were brought to him on a tray, and at his bidding placed close

together in a triangle.

"This is only another of the innumerable possible variations upon the

penetrability of matter, and would come under the head in common

nomenclature of that stupidly used term 'fourth dimension.' I said that

I am not a juggler, but of course I chose some of the tests because they

are picturesque, and so might amuse an audience. See."

He laid his hand upon the top of the three globes. Instantly they became

one by intersection, the three bases being moved nearer together. Each

globe preserved perfectly its shape, and in the divisions now made by

the coalescing of the section of one sphere with that of another the

liquid was of the hue resulting from a mingling of the colors of the

differently tinted fluids.

A murmur went around. Several of the members rose to examine the globes.

"Put them on the table," the wonder-worker said, "and then everybody may

see."

"We are not to ask questions of methods," Judge Hobart observed. "Is it

proper to inquire whether the experiment involves a contradiction of the

old law that two bodies cannot occupy the same space?"

"Not at all," was the answer. "Modern science has shown clearly enough

that to seem to occupy space is only to fill it as the stars fill the

sky. I have only taken advantage of that fact to crowd more matter into

a defined area."

The members were asked to seat themselves, and when this had been done,

the stranger said: "Any number of examples of this power could be given,

but these should be enough, unless some one would prefer to improvise a

test on the spot."

"I am glad that you say this," Professor Gray remarked. "I am subject to

the prejudice, foolish enough but common, of being more impressed by

experiments of my own contriving. Do you mind, sir, if Dr. Taunton and I

loop handkerchiefs together, and let you separate them while we hold the

ends?"

"Certainly not," was the reply.

The experiment was instantly successful, and was repeated for double

assurance.

"If we had nothing else to do," the stranger observed, "we might go on

in this line indefinitely; but this is enough of the 'fourth dimension,'

so called. Now we will try development."