, as the lieutenant had said, and I
felt an icy shudder come over me.

"On the appointed day the captain called upon me with my young friend,
and at the stroke of ten we were at the inn as we had promised the
major. The lieutenant was silent and reserved, but the captain was so
much the louder and in high spirits. 'Indeed!' he cried, when it was
already half-past ten, and no O'Malley had made his appearance, 'indeed
I believe that the conjuror has left us in the lurch with all his
spirits and devils!' 'That he has not,' said a voice close behind the
captain, and O'Malley was among us without any one having seen how he
entered. The laugh, into which the captain was about to break, died
away.

"The major, who was dressed as usual in his military cloak, thought
that there was time to drink a few glasses of punch before he took us
to the place where he designed to fulfill his promise. It would do us
good as the night was cold and rough, and we had a tolerably long way
to go. We sat down at a table, on which the major had laid some links
bound together, and a book.

"'Ho ho!' cried the captain, 'this is your conjuring book is it, major?'

"'Most assuredly,' replied O'Malley, drily.

"The captain seized the book, opened it, and at that moment laughed so
immoderately, that we did not know what could have struck him, as being
so very ridiculous.

"'Come,' said he, recovering himself with difficulty, 'come, this is
too bad! What the devil, major--oh, you want to play your tricks upon
us, or have you made some mistake? Only look here, comrades!'

"You may conceive our astonishment, friend Albert, when we saw that the
book which the captain held before our eyes, was no other than
'Peplier's French Grammar.' O'Malley took the book out of the
captain's hand, put it into the pocket in his cloak, and then said very
quietly--indeed his whole demeanour was quiet and milder than
usual--'It must be very immaterial to you, captain, of what instruments
I make use to fulfill my promise, which only binds me to give you a
sensible demonstration of my intercourse with the world of spirits
which surrounds us, and which, in fact, comprises the condition of our
higher being. Do you think that my power requires such paltry crutches
as especial mystical forms, choice of a particular time, a remote awful
spot--things which paltry cabalists are in the habit of employing for
their useless experiments? In the open market-place, at eve