My aunt was sitting with her back to Mr.Varick." There was a pause.

And then Helen asked: "You don't believe that the dead _can_ appear to the living--do you, Sir Lyon ?" "I've never been able quite to make up my mind," he said slowly.

"But I do believe, absolutely, in what is now called materialization.

I must believe in it, because I've witnessed the phenomena a number of times myself.

But, of course, always under a most carefully prepared set of conditions.