Doctor; "I thought it must be something of the kind. That's a poor brute
caught in some of these infernal traps of yours; you'll find it among the
bushes somewhere." I said nothing. I felt no particular fear, but a
triumphant satisfaction in what was to follow. I led him to the spot
where Bagley and I had stood on the previous night. All was silent as a
winter night could be,--so silent that we heard far off the sound of the
horses in the stables, the shutting of a window at the house. Simson
lighted his taper and went peering about, poking into all the corners. We
looked like two conspirators lying in wait for some unfortunate
traveller; but not a sound broke the quiet. The moaning had stopped
before we came up; a star or two shone over us in the sky, looking down
as if surprised at our strange proceedings. Dr. Simson did nothing but
utter subdued laughs under his breath. "I thought as much," he said. "It
is just the same with tables and all other kinds of ghostly apparatus; a
sceptic's presence stops everything. When I am present nothing ever comes
off. How long do you think it will be necessary to stay here? Oh, I don't
complain; only when _you_ are satisfied, _I_ am--quite."

I will not deny that I was disappointed beyond measure by this result. It
made me look like a credulous fool. It gave the Doctor such a pull over
me as nothing else could. I should point all his morals for years to
come; and his materialism, his scepticism, would be increased beyond
endurance. "It seems, indeed," I said, "that there is to be no--"
"Manifestation," he said, laughing; "that is what all the mediums say. No
manifestations, in consequence of the presence of an unbeliever." His
laugh sounded very uncomfortable to me in the silence; and it was now
near midnight. But that laugh seemed the signal; before it died away the
moaning we had heard before was resumed. It started from some distance
off, and came towards us, nearer and nearer, like some one walking along
and moaning to himself. There could be no idea now that it was a hare