On my expostulating with this lady for having given the impression that she did not recognise the description at the time she said, with conscious pride: "You don't suppose I was going to let the woman know that she had described my mother?" To give a false impression in so good a cause as determined incredulity, seems not only justifiable, but actually praiseworthy to many minds. Later in the evening, the _seance_ being in full swing, a spirit dressed in some kind of white "sister's" dress appeared at the door of the cabinet; and Mrs Stoddart Gray asked if anyone in the circle could speak German, as this spirit did not seem to understand French, Italian, or English, and she herself only recognised German by the sound. A gentleman volunteered his assistance, but apparently without much effect, and being a German scholar, I then offered to come to the rescue. The moment I went up to the figure she seemed to gain strength, and came quite out of the cabinet, and said to me in the most refined German (any readers who have studied the language know that there is as wide a difference between the highest and lowest type of German accent as between an educated Irish "accent" and an Irish brogue): "_Ich bin die schwester von Madame Schewitsch_," mentioning the name of the foreign friend with whom I had been spending that afternoon: "_Ich weisz das Sie Heute Nach mittag bei meiner schwester waren._"[1] [1] Translation: "I am the sister of Madame Schewitsch--I know that you spent this afternoon with my sister." She had evidently a strong, almost overwhelming desire to make some communication to me for her sister, but the difficulty in doing so seemed equally strong. It lay beyond the question of language. She spoke with sufficient strength, and I could understand perfectly her well-chosen and well-pronounced words. But some insuperable obstacle seemed to prevent her telling me what she wished to convey, and the despairing attempt to surmount this was painful in the extreme. I assured her of my willingness to help in any way possible, and made a few suggestions, but all in vain. "Is it that you are not happy?" "No--no! That is not it." It seemed to me some sort of warning which she wished to convey, and had some connection with illness, for the words _achtung_ and _krankheit_ (warning and illness) were repeated more than once, but no definite message came.