"'Do these persons have themselves announced, or do they send in their cards?'--'No; but I recognise them when they appear. I did not expect to see Marc Antony last night, but I knew the Roman the moment he set foot in my house.'--'At what hour do these illustrious dead visit you?'--'At one o'clock: sometimes their visits are long, sometimes short. The day before yesterday I saw the unfortunate Job, but he would not stay more than two minutes; I had hardly time to make a sketch of him, which I afterwards engraved----but silence! Here is Richard III.!'--'Where do you see him?'--'Opposite to you, on the other side of the table: it is his first visit.'--'How do you know his name?'--'My spirit recognizes him, but I cannot tell you how.'--'What is he like?'--'Stern, but handsome: at present I only see his profile; now I have the three-quarter face; ah! now he turns to me, he is terrible to behold.'--'Could you ask him any questions?'--'Certainly. What would you like me to ask him?'--'If he pretends to justify the murders he committed during his life?'--'Your question is already known to him. We converse mind to mind by intuition and by magnetism. We have no need of words.'--'What is his Majesty's reply?'--'This; only it is somewhat longer than he gave it to me, for you would not understand the language of spirits. He says what you call murder and carnage is all nothing; that in slaughtering fifteen or twenty thousand men you do no wrong; for what is immortal of them is not only preserved, but passes into a better world, and the man who reproaches his assassin is guilty of ingratitude, for it is by his means he enters into a happier and more perfect state of existence. But do not interrupt me; he is now in a very good position, and if you say anything more, he will go.'"