Sir Arthur Conan Doyle The Land Of Mis

who tells me that two and two are five? Must I study physics once more and take down my Principia because some rogue or fool insists that a table can rise in the air against the law of gravity? Does it take five hundred volume to inform us of a thing which is proved in every policecourt when an impostor is exposed? Enid I am ashamed of you!
  His daughter laughed merrily.
  Well Dad you need not roar at me any more. I give in. In fact I have the same feeling that you have.
  None the less said Malone some good men support them. I dont see that you can laugh at Lodge and Crookes and the others.
  Dont be absurd Malone. Every great mind has its weaker side. It is a sort of reaction against all the good sense. You come suddenly upon a vein of positive nonsense. That is what is the matter with these fellows. No Enid I havent read their reasons and I dont mean to either some things are beyond the pale. If we reopen all the old questions how can we ever get ahead with the new ones? This matter is settled by common sense the law of England and by the universal assent of every sane European.  So thats that! said Enid.
  However he continued I can admit that there are occasional excuses for misunderstandings upon the point. He sank his voice and his great grey eyes looked sadly up into vacancy. I have known cases where the coldest intellect even my own intellect might for a moment have been shaken.
  Malone scented copy.
  Yes sir?
  Challenger hesitated. He seemed to be struggling with himself. He wished to speak and yet speech was painful. Then with an abrupt impatient gesture he plunged into his story
  I never told you Enid. It was too . . . too intimate. Perhaps too absurd. I was ashamed to have been so shaken. But it shows how even the best balanced may be caught unawares.
  Yes sir?
  It was after my wifes death. You knew her Malone You can guess what it meant to me. It was the night after the cremation . . . horrible Malone horrible! I saw the dear little body slide down down . . . and then the glare of flame and the door clanged to. His great body shook and he passed his big hairy hand over his eyes.
  I dont know why I tell you this the talk seemed to lead up to it. It may be a warning to you. That night the night after the cremation I sat up in the hall. She was there he nodded at Enid. She had fallen asleep in a chair poor girl. You know the house at Rotherfield Malone. It was in the big hall. I sat by the fireplace the room all draped in shadow and my mind draped In shadow also. I should have sent her to bed but she was lying back in her chair and I did not wish to wake her. It may have been one in the morning I remember the moon shining through the stainedglass window. I sat and I brooded. Then suddenly there came a noise.
  Yes sir?
  It was low at first just a ticking. Then it grew louder and more distinct it was a clear rattattat. Now comes the queer coincidence the sort of thing out of which legends grow when credulous folk have the shaping of them. You must know that my wife had a peculiar way of knocking at a door. It was really a little tune which she played with her fingers. I got into the some way so that we could each know when the other knocked. Well it seemed to me of course my mind was strained and abnormal that the taps shaped themselves into the wellknown rhythm of her knock. I couldnt localize it. You can think how eagerly I tried. It was above me somewhere on the woodwork. I lost sense of time. I daresay it was repeated a dozen times at least.  Oh Dad you never told me!
  No but I woke you up. I asked you to sit quiet with me for a little.
  Yes I remember that!
  Well we sat but nothing happened. Not a sound more. Of course it was a delusion. Some insect in the wood the ivy on the outer wall. My own brain furnished the rhythm. Thus do we make fools and children of ourselves. But it gave me an insight. I saw how even a clever man could be deceived by his own emotions.
  But how do you know sir that it was not your wife.
  Absurd Malone! Absurd I say! I tell you I saw her in the flames.
What was there left?
  Her soul her spirit.
  Challenger shook his head sadly.
  When that dear body dissolved into its elements when its gases went into the air and its residue of solids sank into a grey dust it was the end. There was no more. She had played her part played it beautifully nobly. It was done. Death ends all Malone. This soul talk is the Animism of savages. It is a superstition a myth. As a physiologist I will undertake to produce crime or virtue by vascular control or cerebral stimulation. I will turn a Jekyll into a Hyde by a surgical operation. Another can do it by a psychological suggestion. Alcohol will do it. Drugs will do it. Absurd Malone absurd! As the tree falls so does it lie. There is no next morning . .
. night eternal night . . . and long rest for the weary worker.
  Well its a sad philosophy.
  Better a sad than a false one.
  Perhaps so. There is something virile and manly in facing the worst. I would not contradict. My reason is with you.
  But my instincts are against! cried Enid. No no never can I believe it. She threw her arms round the great bull neck. Dont tell me Daddy that you with all your complex brain and wonderful self are a thing with no more life hereafter than a broken clock!
  Four buckets of water and a bagful of salts said Challenger as he smilingly detached his daughters grip. Thats your daddy my lass and you may as well reconcile your mind to it. Well its twenty to eight. Come back if you can Malone and let me hear your adventures among the insane.
2 Which Describes an Evening in Strange Company
  THE loveaffair of Enid Challenger and Edward Malone is not of the slightest interest to the reader for the simple reason that it is not of the slightest interest to the writer. The unseen unnoticed lure of the unborn babe is common to all youthful humanity. We deal in this chronicle with matters which are less common and of higher interest. It is only mentioned in order to explain those terms of frank and intimate comradeship which the narrative discloses. If the human race has obviously improved in anything in AngloCeltic countries at least it is that the prim affectations and sly deceits of the past are lessened and that young men and women can meet in an equality of clean and honest comradeship.
  A taxi took the adventurers down Edgware Road and into the sidestreet called Helbeck Terrace. Halfway down the dull line of brick houses was broken by one glowing gap where an open arch threw a flood of light into the street. The cab pulled up and the man opened the door.
  This is the Spiritualist Church sir said he. Then as he saluted to acknowledge his tip he added in the wheezy voice of the man of all weathers Tommyrot I call it sir. Having eased his conscience thus he climbed into his seat and a moment later his red rearlamp was a waning circle in the gloom. Malone laughed.
  Vox populi Enid. That is as far as the public has got at present.
  Well it is as far as we have got for that matter.
  Yes but we are prepared to give them a show. I dont suppose Cabby is. By Jove it will be hard luck if we cant get in!
  There was a crowd at the door and a man was facing them from the top of the step waving his arms to keep them back.
  Its no good friends. I am very sorry but we cant help it. Weve been threatened twice with prosecution for overcrowding. He turned facetious. Never heard of an Orthodox Church getting into trouble for that. No sir no.
  Ive come all the way from Ammersmith wailed a voice. The light beat upon the eager anxious face of the speaker a little woman in black with a baby in her arms.
  Youve come for clairvoyance Mam said the usher with intelligence. See here give me the name and address and