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 proved it herself. We will then go to court and ask a jury picked from competent veniremen of County of Cook, State of Illinois, to pass upon the validity of certain material facts, witnessed at the time of the destruction of the Gallantic, to have caused the death of Agnes D. Cullen, beyond any reasonable doubt. Now when already they know she's dead, how do you think they'll decide?"

Jaccard previously had convinced Lucas how a jury, which he selected, was likely to decide; and Lucas, being fond of crowing himself, had no preference for that taste in others; so he did not directly reply but sat regarding his lawyer dubitatively.

"What do you, yourself, think of 'evidential messages,' Jaccard?" he suddenly demanded.

"Think?" said Jaccard. "I've just told you they will land you eighteen million or so in your lifetime instead of seven years from now—not saying you won't live seven years more, however."

"I mean," said Lucas, "what do you think of it, not as a lawyer, but as a man sixty-seven years old?"

"Sixty-six," Jaccard corrected.

"It's all the same; in your condition, you're about as likely to die in seven years, or in one, as I am. What do you think of that—material, Jaccard?"

"The material in general? 'Raymond'; 'The New Revelation'; 'After Death'?"

"Eh?" said Lucas. "You've read all those too?"

"How do you suppose I prepare a case?" Jaccard returned. "But what'd you read 'em for?"

"I bought them, so I read them," Lucas vouchsafed. "Well, Jaccard?"

"Thirteen years ago," said Jaccard, looking reflectively out the window, "I happened to be in London