particle of harm, and it shan't cost you a cent either. I'll do the thing as a sort of friendly service, you understand. Then you'll begin to see what a big thing this Mahatma business can be made in the hands of a competent practitioner."

The man amused me by the enormous impudence of his pretensions. It occurred to me that it would not be a bad idea to take him at his word and put his pretensions to the test. Of course he was a liar, and it would be a pleasure to prove him to be such.

"I accept your offer with pleasure," I exclaimed. "To-morrow at half-past two I will be at your office, and will have my astral body extracted, if that is the correct expression. Do you use anæsthetics, or is the operation painless?"

"Absolutely painless," he returned. "You simply sit down in a chair and are hypnotised, as you would call it. The process is rather a pleasant one, and is perfectly safe, unless there is an excess of electricity in the air."

"What harm does electricity do?"

"Just this. The astral body is made up of what you might call condensed negative electricity. Now, the electricity in the air is positive electricity, and the two things are antagonistic. If a thunderstorm comes up while you are in your astral form the lightning will strike you, no matter if you are covered with lightning rods and insulators; and the instant an astral body is struck by lightning it is dissipated, and never can be got together again. You remember what I say, and if ever you are out in your astral form, and see signs of electricity in the air, you bolt for home, and get into your physical body without losing a minute's time."

Presently I rose to leave the room, and I could not help noticing that Silver was looking with admiration at my athletic figure. "Poor little devil!" I said to myself. "What a curse it must be to be so weak and ugly!" The Mahatma accompanied me to the door, and as I left him I once more promised to accept his reiterated invitation.

Had I been an older man I should, of course, have kept away from Holt's office and thought no more about him; but being young and reckless, I wanted to see what the fellow could possibly mean, and so at half-past two the next day I found myself at No. 418, Rue de Berlin.

There was no indication of any office in the house, but the concierge told me that an Englishman named 'Olt lived on the entresol. I made my way upstairs and rang at the door on the first landing. It was opened by the Mahatma himself. "Glad to see you," he exclaimed. "Now, I call this real friendly. I'm just on the point of giving up this place, and have no servant, so I'll have to ask you to excuse the condition of my office. However, I've a chair for you, and that's about all you'll need." So saying, he showed me into a bare, carpetless room, furnished only with three chairs and a small writing-desk. One of the chairs was already occupied by Silver, who had, as it seemed to me, a look of painful expectation,-very much as he might have looked had he been waiting in the outer room of a dentist's office.

"Here's our friend Mr. Norris!" said the Mahatma cheerfully. "He's come to take a little promenade with you in the astral form.”

Silver put out his damp, cold hand, and said good morning, in a mechanical sort of way.

"Now, Mr. Norris!" said the Mahatma, "let's have a clear understanding. You want to have your astral form released from your body for a few minutes, just to convince you that the thing can be done. I'll do it, and I pledge my professional reputation that there is no pain or danger about the operation, and that just as soon as you want to go back to your body you can do so. If you're the least afraid, now's the time to back down."

"I am not afraid," I answered, rather testily, " for I don't believe there is any such thing as an astral body. Still I'm here to be convinced, and, if you please, we'll get to work at once."

"Very well," said Holt. "Just sit down on that chair next to Mr. Silver, and fix your eyes on mine. Mr. Silver, you're to accompany Mr. Norris on his little

outing, so just draw your chair a little nearer to me if you please."

Silver complied with the request, and the Mahatma stood in front of us, with his eyes fixed on ours, and began the attempt to hypnotise us.

I said to myself, "So this fellow is nothing but a common magnetising quack after all!" I had more than once been hypnotised, and had no fear of the process, so I waited unconcerned to see if the Mahatma's attempt would be successful.

I was just beginning to be drowsy when I was startled to see a mist gathering ground Silver, which rapidly condensed into a body in all respects apparently precisely like that of the millionaire. The original body of Silver remained in the chair, in a profound sleep, and it was regarded with evident contempt by its astral companion. I was about to say to the Mahatma that I would have no more of the experiment, when a drowsiness that I could not resist came upon me. My eyes closed, and my consciousness melted away. Presently I was aware that I was on my feet again, and was looking down at a duplicate of myself that was sleeping calmly in the chair.

"There you are!" said Holt.

"Never knew an astral body to come out of the

shell so easy before. How do you feel?"

"A good deal astonished," I replied, “and singularly light.”

"You'll get used to that in a few minutes," said Holt. "Put your foot down gently when you walk, and try not to float, for it would attract too much attention Now, Mr. Silver! If both of you gentlemen are ready, we'll take a

in the street. little walk."

"Will they be quite safe?"

one in the apartment except When I have half a dozen

"How about leaving our bodies here?" I asked. Perfectly safe," said the Mahatma. "There is no ourselves, and I shall lock the door when we go out. people undergoing this experiment at the same time, I generally give them checks for their bodies, so as to avoid any mistake; but that isn't necessary between friends, and when there are only two of you."

Going downstairs, I found it extremely difficult not to yield to the tendency to float from the top to the bottom. My feet refused at first to cling to the earth, and when we reached the sidewalk Holt was obliged to take my arm in order to steady me. In a few minutes, however, I succeeded in adjusting myself to my new conditions, and began to enjoy the sensation of airy lightness.

I knew that the Silver who was walking beside me was only a sort of ghost, but there was nothing in his appearance which differed in the slightest degree from the other Silver. Neither could I distinguish any difference between my astral and my physical bodies, except that the former was much the lighter. Even my astral clothes were the exact duplicates of those which my other body was wearing, and the astral watch, penknife, and pipe, which I found in my pockets, were precisely like those which I ordinarily used.

"There is nobody in sight Just oblige me by walking

"Do you see that lamp-post?" asked the Mahatma. just now, and I'll take the chance of our being seen. straight into that lamp-post as if there was nothing there."

I did so, and found that the lamp-post offered no obstacle to me whatever. I passed directly through it, or rather it seemed to pass directly through me. Mahatma smiled triumphantly.

The

"Now you see," he exclaimed, "that your astral body is immaterial! You want to be very careful never to go into a crowded street when you are in the astral form, and never to run against any one. If you do, it will be discovered that you are immaterial, and there will be no end of a row. Why, Mr. Silver, here, the first time I took him out, was run into just in front of that house over yonder by a child rolling a hoop. The kid and the hoop went right through him, and the kid set up a yell that alarmed the whole neighbourhood. I wish you could have heard that child trying to convince its mother that it had run right through the middle of a gentleman."

The Mahatma laughed loudly at the reminiscence, and even the taciturn Silver chuckled.

"Where shall we go?" asked Holt. "I shouldn't advise any long excursion, considering that this is your first outing. Suppose we go into the Parc Monceaux and walk around where it is quiet, for a half-hour or so. You want to get thoroughly accustomed to your change of weight."

cart.

I assented to his proposal, and we had just reached the corner of the Boulevard, when I heard a rumbling sound that, as I now believe, was caused by a heavy "That's thunder," cried the Mahatma, with a frightened look. "Stop till I look at my electrometer!" So saying, he took from his pocket a small instrument that resembled in appearance an aneroid thermometer, and glanced at its dial.

"Why, the air is full of electricity!" he exclaimed. "We must get back to the office instantly, or I won't answer for the consequences. Mr. Silver, you go on ahead and open the door. I'll help Mr. Norris along."

Silver went on rapidly in advance, and I followed with the Mahatma. He seemed excited and alarmed, and protested that he could not understand how he could have forgotten to consult his electrometer before taking Silver and myself into the street. "However," he said, "we shall probably reach the house before the electricity

increases to the point of extreme danger; and another time I promise you that you shall not go out in your astral form unless the weather is in a perfectly safe condition.”

When we reached the office we found the body of Silver still in the chair where we had left it, but to my intense surprise and horror Silver had taken possession of my own body, and was standing by my chair with a smile of triumph on his face. Before I could say a word the Mahatma cried out that he saw a flash of lightning. "Jump into Mr. Silver's body this instant, if you value your life," he cried to me. "We will arrange it all right just as soon as the thunderstorm is over.”

"But I don't want that contemptible body," I cried: "give me my own body this instant, or

"Or what?" asked the Mahatma. "How are you going to help yourself? Now just be sensible! Mr. Silver has, in his hurry, jumped into your. body by mistake. You can't remain in the astral form without the utmost danger. You get into Mr. Silver's body for an hour or two, and then it will be safe for you to exchange with him and have your own body back again. I warn you that every minute you stand here you run the risk of being dissipated."

There was clearly nothing for it but to follow the Mahatma's advice. With great difficulty I managed to force myself into the vacant tenement of Mr. Silver. It was much too small for me, and squeezed me horribly about the chest. No sooner.was I once more incarnated, than I turned to Silver and expressed my opinion of his stupidity, as I deemed it, in language that was very far from polite.

Silver made no reply, and as soon as I ceased speaking he went out of the room. Then the Mahatma said, with perfect coolness, "We've played a little game on you, Mr. Norris! My friend Mr. Silver wanted your body, and as he knew you wouldn't sell it, we had to get it by strategy. Mr. Silver is prepared to pay you handsomely for your body, on condition that you don't make a row. I might as well tell you that it won't do us any harm if you do kick, for no one will believe a word you say about the matter, and the only result will be that you will find yourself in a lunatic asylum. Me and Mr. Silver have an engagement at this hour, and so I'll trouble you to take yourself off.” What could I do? Violence was out of the question, for Holt could have broken every bone in the wretched little body in which I was encased, with the greatest ease. I saw that I was beaten. I had fallen into the hands of a pair of scoundrels, and they had perpetrated an unheard-of outrage upon me. I had no money with which to bribe the Mahatma, and an appeal to the police was, as he had said, quite out of the question. I walked out of Holt's office without another word, and, going into the little garden in front of the Church of the Trinity, sat down to think of any possible remedy for my misfortune.

I was disgusted to notice how little space my body occupied on the bench where I had seated myself, and how thin and ugly my legs looked as they were stretched in front of me. Mechanically I thrust my hand into my pocket, and it came in contact with something unfamiliar. I drew it out, and found that it was a heavy, old-fashioned purse. It flashed across me that possibly Silver might have left something valuable in his clothes, and I opened the purse eagerly. It proved to contain fully three thousand francs in paper and gold. Pleased with this discovery, I made an examination of my other pockets, and presently made a further discovery that put me at once into the best of spirits. I had found a bank book on Rothschilds' bank, showing that a very large sum was on deposit there; and, what was at least of equal value, I found a draft on the same bank, made in New York, for the sum of one hundred and fifty-three thousand francs. I knew now that I had Silver at my mercy. The man in giving me his cast-off body had unwittingly given me all his ready money, and possibly all his other property.