“Now whether this is the right name or not I do not know. I presume that it is; though it is rarely safe to trust a medium in such cases. The child’s name I have heard you say was Clara Berwick. I have never spoken or written it except to yourself. Still Bender may have got the father’s name,—the surname at least,—from my mind. But if the name _Henry_ is right, where did he get _that_? I am not aware of ever having known the father’s name. The check he once gave you for me you never showed me, but cashed it yourself. Still I shall not too positively claim that the name was communicated preternaturally; for experience has convinced me it may have been in my mind without my knowing it. Every thought of our lives is probably photographed on our brains, never to be obliterated. Let me study, then, to multiply my good thoughts. But in whatever way Bender got the name, whether from my mind or from a spirit, the fact is interesting and important in either case. “The effect upon Clara (for so we now all call her) of this singular event was such as to convince her instantaneously that the name was right, and that she is the child of Henry Berwick. As soon as the medium had gone, she asked me if I could not find out who Mr. Berwick was. I then told her the story of the Pontiac, down to the recent confession of Quattles, and my own search for Colonel Delancy Hyde. All my little group of hearers—Madame Volney, Esha, and Clara—were deeply interested, as you may suppose, in the narrative. Clara was much moved when she learnt that the same Mr. Vance, whose acquaintance she had made, was the one who had known the parents, and was now seeking for their daughter. She has a serene conviction that she is the identical child. When I read what you had written about different colored eyes, she simply said, ‘Look, Peek!’ And there they were,—blue and gray! “Mr. Ratcliff’s house is in the charge of his lawyer, Mr. Semmes, who keeps a very strict eye over all outgoings and incomings. Esha has his confidence, but he distrusts both Clara and Madame Volney. By pretending that I am her half-brother, Esha enables me to come and go unsuspected. The medium, Bender, was introduced as a chiropedist. Clara never goes out without a driver and footman, who are agents and spies of Semmes. It does not matter at present; for it would be difficult in the existing state of affairs to remove Clara out of the city without running great risk of detection and pursuit. I have sometimes thought of putting her in a boat and rowing down the river to Pass à l’Outre; but the hazard would be serious.