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303
The Book of Dreams and Ghosts
·
Andrew Lang
65
UNDER
THE
LAMP
I
had
given
a
glass
ball
to
a
young
lady,
who
believed
that
she
could
play
the
"willing
game"
successfully
without
touching
the
person
"willed,"
and
when
the
person
did
not
even
know
that
"willing"
was
going
on.
This
lady,
Miss
Baillie,
had
scarcely
any
success
with
the
ball.
She
lent
it
to
Miss
Leslie,
who
saw
a
large,
square,
old-
fashioned
red
sofa
covered
with
muslin,
which
she
found
in
the
next
country
house
she
visited.
Miss
Baillie's
brother,
a
young
athlete
(at
short
odds
for
the
amateur
golf
championship),
laughed
at
these
experiments,
took
the
ball
into
the
study,
and
came
back
looking
"gey
gash".
He
admitted
that
he
had
seen
a
vision,
somebody
he
knew
"under
a
lamp".
He
would
discover
during
the
week
whether
he
saw
right
or
not.
This
was
at
5.30
on
a
Sunday
afternoon.
On
Tuesday,
Mr.
Baillie
was
at
a
dance
in
a
town
some
forty
miles
from
his
home,
and
met
a
Miss
Preston.
"On
Sunday,"
he
said,
"about
half-past
five
you
were
sitting
under
a
standard
lamp
in
a
dress
I
never
saw
you
wear,
a
blue
blouse
with
lace
over
the
shoulders,
pouring
out
tea
for
a
man
in
blue
serge,
whose
back
was
towards
me,
so
that
I
only
saw
the
tip
of
his
moustache."
"Why,
the
blinds
must
have
been
up,"
said
Miss
Preston.
"I
was
at
Dulby,"
said
Mr.
Baillie,
as
he
undeniably
was.
{60a}
This
is
not
a
difficult
exercise
in
belief.
Miss
Preston
was
not
unlikely
to
be
at
tea
at
tea-time.
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