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I was still pondering over the ingenuity of the thing when Annerly went on: "When Q and I first became friends, he had a favourite dog, which, if necessary, I might name Z, and which followed him in and out of X on his daily walk." "In and out of X," I repeated in astonishment. "Yes," said Annerly, "in and out." My senses were now fully alert.
He seemed in great distress, made gestures which I could not understand, and kept turning his trouser pockets inside out. I was too spellbound to question him, and tried in vain to divine his meaning. Presently the phantasm seized a pencil from the table, and wrote the words, 'Two sovereigns, to-morrow night, urgent." Annerly was again silent. I sat in deep thought.
His stepmother, with whom he lived, said afterwards that she could hear the sound of his breathing quite distinctly during the night." "And did he die that night?" I asked, breathless with excitement. "No," said Annerly, "he did not. He rose next morning feeling about as before except that the sense of drowsiness had apparently passed, and that the sound of his breathing was no longer audible."
Our experiment succeeded completely. The two coins had vanished in the morning. For nearly two months we continued our experiments on these lines. At times Annerly himself, so he told me, would leave money, often considerable sums, within reach of the phantasm, which never failed to remove them during the night.
I did what I could to remove this feeling, but it was impossible to do so, and he presently wrung my hand and left me, firmly convinced that he would not live till morning." "Good heavens!" I exclaimed, "and he died that night?" "No, he did not," said Annerly quietly, "that is the inexplicable part of it." "Tell me about it," I said.
"Stop one moment," I said, "and let me be quite clear in going out to settle in Australia it was their intention to reside there?" "Yes," said Annerly, "that at any rate was generally understood. I myself saw them off on the steamer, and shook hands with Q, standing at the same time quite close to him."
That evening, while sitting with Miss M on the verandah of her house, he had distinctly seen a projection of the dog R pass along the road." "Stop a moment," I said. "Did you not say that the dog's name was Z?" Annerly frowned slightly. "Quite so," he replied.
Nine o'clock came, ten o'clock, and finally eleven, and still no word of him. Then feverish with anxiety, I sought his lodgings. Judge of my utter consternation to find that Annerly had disappeared. He had vanished as if off the face of the earth. By what awful error in our preparations, by what neglect of some necessary psychic precautions, he had met his fate, I cannot tell.
"Well," he continued, "Q went to his office each day after that with absolute regularity. As far as I can gather there was nothing either in his surroundings or his conduct to indicate that any peculiar fate was impending over him. He saw Miss M regularly, and the time fixed for their marriage drew nearer each day." "Each day?" I repeated in astonishment. "Yes," said Annerly, "every day.
I said "Good night" to Annerly, and groped my way out into the dark, feverish with excitement. My readers may well imagine my state of eagerness to know the result of the experiment. I could scarcely sleep for anxiety to know the issue.
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