midnight
He passed a neatly pared walnut across the table to his guest . ` These ghosts that people nowadays explain scientifically -- what are they but thoughts visualised by vivid thinking such as yours was -- creative thinking ? They may be just pictures created in moments of strong passionate feeling that persist for centuries and reach other minds direct They 're not seen with the outer eye ; that 's certain , for no two people ever see them together . But I 'm sure these pictures flame up through the mind sometimes just as clearly as some folk see Grey Ladies and the rest flit down the stairs at midnight . ' They munched their walnuts a moment in silence . Rogers listened very keenly . How curious , he reflected , that the talk should lie this way .