I wish I were. I have so much
money that I don't know what to do with it, except let it grow. But,
speaking seriously, I've no intention of remaining a do-nothing. I'm
treasurer of my father's grocery company but I have no liking for
mercantile business. I can give away, but can neither buy nor sell--
to advantage. I heard a story not long ago that set me thinking."
"I told you my story, Quincy, why not tell me yours?"
"I will. It's a mystery--unsolved, and, I think, unsolvable. But I
feel that my vocation will be the solving of mysteries. My mother
wrote detective stories and I must have inherited a mania for
mysteries and criminal problems. But I'll tell you what set me
thinking."
Then he related the story that had been told him by Jack and Ned. As
he concluded, he asked: "Do you think it was signed?"
"Of course it was, but not by the dead man."
"By whom, then?"
"By Mrs. Bliss. She materialized the form by her mediumistic
prowess, but she signed the will."
"But Jack and Ned saw the form, as they called it, take the pen and
write his name."
"They thought they did. She hypnotized them so they saw whatever she
impressed upon their minds."
"Can sensible, highly educated people be so influenced?"
"The bigger the brain the more easily influenced. She couldn't have
so impressed an idiot, or an illiterate, unreceptive man.
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