DR. MACPHERSON. [Ignoring PETER, speaking directly to CATHERINE, who is all attention.] An officer on the Polar vessel, the Jeannette, sent to the Artic regions by the New York Herald, appeared at his wife’s bedside. She was in Brooklyn—­he was on the Polar sea.  He said to her, “Count.”  She distinctly heard a ship’s bell and the word “Count” again.  She had counted six when her husband’s voice said, “Six bells—­and the Jeanette is lost.”  The ship was really lost at the time she saw the vision.

PETER.  A bad dream.  “Six bells and the”—­Ha!  Ha!  Spirit messages!  Suet pudding has brought me messages from the North Pole, and I receive messages from Kingdom Come after I’ve eaten a piece of mince pie.

DR. MACPHERSON.  There have been seventeen thousand other cases found to be worth investigation by the London Society of Psychical Research.

PETER. [Changing.] Supposing, Andrew, that I did “cross over”—­I believe that’s what you call dying,—­that I did want to come back to see how you and the little Katie and Frederik were getting on, how do you think I could manage to do it?

DR. MACPHERSON.  When we hypnotize subjects, Peter, our thoughts take possession of them.  As we enter their bodies, we take the place of a something that leaves them—­a shadow-self.  This self can be sent out of the room—­even to a long distance.  This self leaves us entirely after death on the first, second or third day, or so I believe.  This is the force which you would employ to come back to earth—­the astral envelope.

PETER.  Yes, but what proof have you, Doctor, that I’ve got an—­an astral envelope.

DR. MACPHERSON. [Easily.] De Rochas has actually photographed it by radio-photography.

PETER.  Ha!  Ha!  Ha!  Ho!  Ho!

DR. MACPHERSON.  Mind you—­they couldn’t see it when they photographed it.

PETER.  I imagine not.  See it?  Ho!  Ho!

DR. MACPHERSON.  It stood a few feet away from the sleeper, and was located by striking at the air and watching for the corresponding portion of the sleeper’s body to recoil.  By pricking a certain part of this shadow-self with a pin, the cheek of the patient could be made to bleed.  The camera was focussed on this part of the shadow-self for fifteen minutes.  The result was the profile of a head.

PETER. [After a pause.] ...  You believe that?

DR. MACPHERSON.  The experiment has been repeated again and again.  Nobody acquainted with the subject denies it now.

PETER.  Spook pictures taken by professional mediums! [Turning away from the table as though he had heard enough.

DR. MACPHERSON.  De Rochas, who took the pictures of which I speak, is a lawyer of standing; and the room was full of scientists who saw the pictures taken.

PETER.  Hypnotized—­all of them.  Humbug, Andrew!