"See  here,"  Mr.  Payson  drew  his  chair  nearer  and
shook  his  pencil  at  the  young  man.  "I've  had  some
wonderful  experiences  lately.  You  may  not  believe  it,
but  I  tell  you  there's  something  in  this  spiritualistic
business*  I've  been  investigating  it  for  a  month  now
all  alone,  and  I'm  thoroughly  convinced  that  these
medituns  do  have  some  sort  of  power  that  we  don't
understand."

"Really?"  Cayley  was  beginning  to  be  itvtete;^»i-
**!  knew  jou  bad  always  been  an  agivo«l\c,  VaiX.  \  ^cia^^


282  THE   HEART   LINE

no  idea  that  you  had  gone  into  this  sort  of  thing.
Have  you  struck  anything  interesting?"

"I  certainly  have.  I  went  into  it  in  a  scientific  spirit,
as  a  skeptic,  pure  and  simple,  but  I've  received  some
wonderful  tests.  Why,  they  told  me  my  name  the
very  first  thing  and  a  lot  about  my  life  that  they  had
no  possible  way  of  finding  out.  The  trouble  is,  they
know  too  much."

Cayley  laughed.  "Found  out  about  your  wild  oats,
I  suppose?"

Mr.  Payson  frowned  at  this  frivolity.  "There  are
things  they've  told  me  that  no  one  living  could  pos-
sibly know.  Whether  it's  done  through  spirits  or  not,
it's  mysterious  business.  You  ought  to  go  to  a  seance
and  see  what  they  can  do."

"I'd  hate  to  have  them  tell  my  past,"  Cayley  said
jocosely,  "but  I  don't  take  much  stock  in  them.
They're  a  gang  of  fakirs."

"They're  pretty  sharp,  if  they  are.  I  haven*t  lived
fifty  years  in  the  West  to  be  taken  in  as  easily  as  that.
I  ought  to  know  something  about  men  by  this  time.
