"'So it is money you want?' I asked.
"'Yes,' he said, 'money will do, or anything else that you value.'
"'Will you stay where you are until I can get some?' I asked:—and he said, yes, he would stay where he was.
"So I went into my room and took some money from my purse, and went back and showed it to him; there was a half-crown, a shilling and some coppers—there they are, on the dressing table beside you."
"So you did not give them to him, after all?" I inquired, taking up the coins and examining them.
"Oh, yes, I did," replied my wife; "and that is the strangest part of the whole thing.
"As I said, I showed him the money and asked him if that would do; and he said it would.
"Then I said: 'I am not going to open this door. How can I give these coins to you?'
"'You don't need to open it,' he answered. 'There is a hat rack there behind you, with a marble shelf in it—put them on that shelf.'
"I stepped back to the hat rack and put the money on the shelf, watching him all the time. I glanced at the coins an instant as I laid them down, and when I looked at the door again there was nobody there. I instantly turned to the hat rack again, but the shelf was bare—the coins had disappeared, too!