"He seems to have met a friend on the road, and went for a walk with him. They called at a public-house, and had a glass or two of beer. Then, about ten o'clock, they parted. Thomas was quite cheerful, and started for home at a brisk pace. He came presently to a lonely part of the road. A wayfarer heard a pistol shot and a scream, and presently met a man who was hurrying away from the direction of the scream, and who wished him a gruff good-night. Two hundred yards farther on the traveller saw in the dim night the body of a man stretched out on the side of the road. He fetched assistance: the body was that of David Thomas. He had been shot about a hundred yards behind, but he had not been killed outright. He had run in terror up the road, spouting blood as he went, and leaving a ghastly trail behind him.
"But a weird story which is told in the Western Mail of Cardiff serves to lend that touch of horror to the tale which renders it more thrilling than any story which the most daring novelist would venture to create.
"A young girl, who is not yet 20, has been in the habit for some time past of attending séances held by the Cardiff Psychological Society. One night at a séance, while in a state of trance, she was seized with a strange convulsion. Through her lips came the words:
"'I—WILL—have—my—revenge.'
"'Who are you, friend?' asked the interlocutor.
"'David—Thomas. I—was—shot.'
"This entirely unexpected answer was followed by sensational statements concerning the murder and the identity of the murderer. Some days after she was taken out to Fairwater—which she had never before visited—and reenacted in a trance the scene of the murder.
"The story leaked out, and came to the ears of the Western Mail. Doubts were cast at once on the bôna fides of the girl and the whole story. An offer was made to repeat the experiment in the presence of two Mail representatives. The offer was accepted, and one night this week, at ten o'clock, the little party met outside the Railway Inn, where poor David Thomas had had his last drink.
"A start was made. The medium walked at an easy pace between a male and female friend, whose arms were linked. The faint outline of the road ahead led always on towards a wall of blackness.
"At last they came near Fairwater. Suddenly the medium spoke: