“How must she know?” asked Corbeck keenly.

“If she has that astral body that Father spoke of, surely she must know!  How can she fail to, with an invisible presence and an intellect that can roam abroad even to the stars and the worlds beyond us!” She paused, and her father said solemnly: 

“It is on that supposition that we are proceeding.  We must have the courage of our convictions, and act on them—­to the last!”

Margaret took his hand and held it in a dreamy kind of way as we filed out of the house.  She was holding it still when he locked the hall door, and when we moved up the road to the gateway, whence we took a cab to Paddington.

When all the goods were loaded at the station, the whole of the workmen went on to the train; this took also some of the stone-wagons used for carrying the cases with the great sarcophagi.  Ordinary carts and plenty of horses were to be found at Westerton, which was our station for Kyllion.  Mr. Trelawny had ordered a sleeping-carriage for our party; as soon as the train had started we all turned into our cubicles.

That night I slept sound.  There was over me a conviction of security which was absolute and supreme.  Margaret’s definite announcement:  “There will not be any trouble tonight!” seemed to carry assurance with it.  I did not question it; nor did anyone else.  It was only afterwards that I began to think as to how she was so sure.  The train was a slow one, stopping many times and for considerable intervals.  As Mr. Trelawny did not wish to arrive at Westerton before dark, there was no need to hurry; and arrangements had been made to feed the workmen at certain places on the journey.  We had our own hamper with us in the private car.

All that afternoon we talked over the Great Experiment, which seemed to have become a definite entity in our thoughts.  Mr. Trelawny became more and more enthusiastic as the time wore on; hope was with him becoming certainty.  Doctor Winchester seemed to become imbued with some of his spirit, though at times he would throw out some scientific fact which would either make an impasse to the other’s line of argument, or would come as an arresting shock.  Mr. Corbeck, on the other hand, seemed slightly antagonistic to the theory.  It may have been that whilst the opinions of the others advanced, his own stood still; but the effect was an attitude which appeared negative, if not wholly one of negation.

As for Margaret, she seemed to be in some way overcome.  Either it was some new phase of feeling with her, or else she was taking the issue more seriously than she had yet done.  She was generally more or less distraite, as though sunk in a brown study; from this she would recover herself with a start.  This was usually when there occurred some marked episode in the journey, such as stopping at a station, or when the thunderous rumble of crossing a viaduct woke the echoes of the hills or cliffs around us.  On