Ronnie groaned wearily. "Oh, God, are you going to lecture?" he asked and Jan Steppe roared at him.
"Shut up! Go on, Merville. Do you mean that it leaves the body before—death?"
"I think so," said Merville thoughtfully. "I've often stood by the side of a patient desperately sick, and suddenly felt in my body his despair and weakness, and seen him brighten and flush with my strength."
"Really?" Steppe's voice was intense. "Do you mean that your spirits have exchanged themselves?"
Dr. Merville flicked the ash of his cigar into the fireplace. "Call it 'spirit', 'soul', 'X', anything you like—call it individuality. There has been a momentary exchange."
"How do you explain it?"
"Science doesn't explain everything," said Merville. "Science accepts a whole lot of what we call 'incommensurables'."
"H'm," Steppe pushed away the papers and rose. "H'm. That'll do for the night. Keep those papers, you fellows, and digest them. You going out, Morelle?"
"No, would you like me to go anywhere with you?" Ronnie was eager to serve.
"No," shortly. "Merville, I'm dining with you tomorrow. And I hope Beryl won't have a headache this time. I've got a box at the Pantheon."