"And any Senior Wrangler will confirm it."
"Very well, then! There we are. Suppose my dear old Mrs. Picture and Granny Marrable had turned up as ghosts, on the other side...."
"I see. You've got me in Hereafter Corner, and you don't intend to let me out."
"Not till you tell me whether they would have been happy or miserable about it, those two ghosts. In your opinion, of course! Don't run away with the idea that I think you infallible."
"There are occasions on which I do not think myself infallible. For instance, when I have to decide an apparently insoluble problem without data of any sort. Your expression 'turned up as ghosts, on the other side,' immediately suggests one."
"You can say whether you think they would have been happy or miserable about having been in England together over twenty years, and never known it. That's simple enough!"
"Don't be in a hurry! There are complications. If they knew they were ghosts, they might become interested in the novelty of their position, and be inclined to accept accomplished facts. Recrimination would be waste of time. If they didn't know....
"Goose!—they would be sure to know."
"The only information I have goes to prove the contrary. When Voltaire's ghost came and spirit-rapped, or whatever you call it....
"I know. One turns tables, and it's very silly."