“No! Sir, nuffin, she only stood there, pointing up to ’eaven with ’er ’and. Leastways she might ’ave been a’pointing to the hattics, but it was uppards any ’ow. But I didn’t see no more of ’er than I could ’elp, for I screamed so loud and ’id myself under the bedclothes, and the next time I looked, she was gone. ‘Thank Goodness!’ said I.” “Don’t be afraid of her, she will not hurt you,” said the Professor, earnestly, “she was a friend of mine, Hannah--a dear friend, and the next time you see her, if you will only speak to her and ask her name, I will give you half a sovereign.” “’Alf a suvvering,” repeated Hannah, wonderingly, “well, I should like to ’ave that, I must say, but I can’t do it, Sir,”--shaking her head--“not for a bag of gold, I couldn’t. I don’t mind a’coming up here to be physicked by the Doctor, for the missus says if I don’t, she’ll send me ’ome--but to talk to sperrits and sich-like I can’t. I’ve never done it, a’cause I’m afeared they’re the Devil, and I can’t begin it now. I should think they would carry me away if I did!” “Still the same old theory,” said Steinberg to Ricardo, in French, “with rich and poor, wise and ignorant--that the Devil is at the bottom of everything that promises to let in a little light upon the other world. Ricardo, if nothing else prompted me to go on with this inquiry, it would be the hope of finding out if there is a Devil at all, or whether the evil in our own natures is not sufficient to do all the mischief in this world, that is attributed to him!” During this short colloquy, Hannah Stubbs had displayed no curiosity by look or word, to learn what was going on, but as Steinberg concluded, she said, “I suppose, Sir, as you’ve been putting some of your physic in my tea, for I feel uncommon sleepy, jest as I did the other night.” The Professor seized upon the opportunity. “We thought it would be less unpleasant for you to take in that way, Hannah,” he commenced, but he spoke to an unconscious hearer. The girl was already lying back in her chair, without sense or motion. Steinberg hastened to lower the gas. “How quickly she has gone off to-night,” he remarked, “I wonder if this is Leonora’s doing!” “No! it is not Leonora’s doing,” echoed the Voice after him, “it is mine! And now as you want a test, Mr. Doctor, as to whether I speak through the medium’s organs, or she speaks for me, please fill half a tumbler with water and pour it into her mouth.” “Pour it into her mouth!” exclaimed Steinberg, “but I may choke her!” “Just do as you’re told,” said “James,” “and leave the consequences to me! We’re better doctors than you are, in the Spiritual world. We know what we’re about and don’t go by guessing. Now, where’s the water?”