



Produced by Annie R. McGuire








[Illustration: HARPER'S ROUND TABLE]

Copyright, 1896, by HARPER & BROTHERS. All Rights Reserved.

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PUBLISHED WEEKLY. NEW YORK, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1896. FIVE CENTS A
COPY.

VOL. XVIII.--NO. 892. TWO DOLLARS A YEAR.

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[Illustration]

THE MATERIALIZATION OF CHARLES AND MIVANWAY.

BY JEROME K. JEROME.


The fault that most people will find with this story is that it is
unconvincing. Its scheme is improbable, its atmosphere artificial. To
confess that the thing really happened--not as I am about to set it
down, for the pen of the professional writer cannot but adorn and
embroider, even to the detriment of his material--is, I am well aware,
only an aggravation of my offence; for the facts of life are the
impossibilities of fiction. A truer artist would have left this story
alone, or at most have kept it for the irritation of his private circle.
My lower instinct is