"So I understand. Nevertheless, this is something more than trance. So far as I can determine, this body is without a tenant."
"The tenant may come back," she insisted.
He looked away. "I know your faith, but I am quite sure all is over. Rigor mortis has set in."
She rose emphatically. "I have a feeling that you are both mistaken. Let me see her. Come, Victor, why do you shrink? It is but her garment lying there."
She led the way to the bedside and laid her warm, plump hands on the pale, thin, cold, and rigid fingers of her friend. She stooped and peered into the sightless visage. "Lucy, are you present? Can you see me?"
Doctor Sill then said: "The eyes alone puzzle me. The pupils are not precisely—"
"If there is the slightest doubt—" Mrs. Joyce began.
"Oh, I didn't mean to convey that, Mrs. Joyce. I was merely giving you the exact point—"
"She shall lie precisely as she is till to-morrow," announced Mrs. Joyce, firmly. "I have an 'impression' that she wishes to have it so. Will you permit this?" She confronted the two physicians. "Will you wait till to-morrow before reporting?"
Doctor Eberly considered a moment. "If you insist, Mrs. Joyce, and if it is Mr. Ollnee's wish—"