 In the works of Robert Browning, there is a logic, a precision, and an intellectual acuteness which suggests the respect for science and reason alone. And yet, it is recorded that on one occasion he was confronted with a situation which he admitted neither science nor reason could explain. It happened on the day he wore his great-uncle's cufflinks. In 1846, Browning and his wife, Elizabeth Barrett, took up their residence in Italy. And there, for the next 15 years, they lived in complete domestic bliss. At least, so the biographers tell us. And we tend to forget that even the Brownings must, now and then, have been plagued with the minor irritations, which afflict blasphemers, married couples. But Elizabeth, how in the world could they have gotten a laundry? There's no excuse to be so excited, Robert. Well, it so happens that I have an engagement in just 15 minutes with Carl Genasi. Then I suggest you find another pair, Robert. I saw some just the other day lying in that top drawer over there. Good Lord. These, I forgot all about them. They are cufflinks, aren't they? Oh, yes, and not ordinary ones either. They're cufflinks with a history. They're connected with a dark deed of vials. In fact, with murder. Murder? My great-uncle stabbed in the heart. They never found out who did it. But he was wearing these cufflinks when it happened. They were taken from his dead body and turned over to my father. No one knows the story outside of a few relatives in England. Well, I better be off. A half hour later, Robert Browning and Count Genasi were dining together in one of the most famous restaurants in Florence. Their conversation, which had begun with literature, had quickly passed to more personal matters. And Browning had launched into glowing description of his wife and of their idyllic marriage. Sounds like heaven, Robert. Almost too good to be true. You disagree on nothing? There's one thing we disagree quite violently on. You see, she actually believes in spiritualists, mediums, and that sort of thing. And you... Don't believe in that. Certainly not. Do you have any sort of old keepsake on your person at the moment, Robert? Well, these cufflinks, perhaps, would they do? One of them would do splendidly. Let me hold it for a moment, will you? Browning removed one of his great-uncle's cufflinks from his sleeve and handed it to Count Genasi. This has a rather interesting history, Robert. What makes you think so? I don't think it. I know it. But the knowledge doesn't come through seeing or hearing or smelling or feeling. How could it come then? Through what your dear wife might call supernatural power. Then I don't believe you have any such knowledge. But there is something here which cries out in my ear. Murder. Murder. I believe that means that this cufflink once belonged to a man who met the violent death. If I'm not mistaken, he was stabbed in the heart. It would be too much to say that Robert Browning changed his philosophy as a result of this curious incident. But there can be little doubt that the very foundations of his skepticism were shaken. The affair remained for him as it must for us. Evidence of the supernatural. Evidence incredible but true.