"Ah, most interesting, most instructive I am sure," replied Payot. "M. Delapine knows the immense interest I take in those things. You know I have always maintained there is a great deal of truth in it, haven't I, Marcel?"
"Oh, Lord, deliver us," said Marcel aside to Riche. "Melted butter isn't in it. I wonder what he'll say next. My word, isn't he coming round. Surely he's growing dotty," and Marcel screwed his monocle into his left eye and gazed at old Payot with a dubious smile.
"Don't you remember Delapine's words when he hypnotised him?" asked Riche in a whisper.
"Oh yes, of course I do. How very extraordinary! Everything Delapine says seems to come true to the letter. Well, who would have thought it," and then he added sotto voce, "It beats Alice in Wonderland."
Delapine shut his eyes and placed his finger-tips together.
"What are you thinking of, my dear professor?" asked Villebois.
"Capital, capital," replied Delapine, rousing himself at the question and smiling with great satisfaction. "This is better than I expected. We shall have a great séance to-morrow—a great séance. Now I am sure of success," he continued as he watched the mental transformation of Payot. "The only discord I feared is removed. Harmony will prevail."
"Will you take some more whisky, professor?" asked Villebois.
"No, thanks, I am rather tired."
"I shall 'whisky' to bed," interposed Marcel. "If I don't lie down, I shall soon have to lie up," he added with a laugh. "I feel bruised all over, like a cake of dough that has been pounded with a rolling-pin."