"No, only the old man. There seemed to be quite a lot of people about, coming and going. We had our interview in Mr. Crane's study, or library——"
"I know, the small room at the back of the house——"
"Been there?" Douglas looked up quickly.
"Read of it in the book," said Peter, quietly, annoyed at himself for the slip.
"Yes. Well, there's a table in the middle of the room, and in the drawer of that table Mr. Crane keeps all the things' materialized by the medium. I think he expects to get a big collection."
"Oh, Lord!" groaned Peter, "what a mess!"
"Yes, isn't it?" Douglas assumed that the whole subject of Spiritism was thus referred to.
"Suppose anything happened to shake Mr. Crane's faith?"
"I don't think anything could do that. He's absolutely gullible. He'd swallow anything. I say, how do you explain it? Why is it that big-brained, well-balanced men fall for this rot?"
"They can't be really well-balanced,—and then, too, it's largely the eagerness to believe, the desire for the comfort it brings them that makes them think they do believe. And a clever medium can do much."