m my shoulder, where she had been speaking close to my ear, and
de-materialized.

Marie St. Clair, who, on Spiritual authority as I have shown above,
shares the ownership with Sister Belle of 'Yorick's' skull in my
possession, has never failed to assent whenever I ask a Spirit if it be
she. To be sure, she varies with every different Medium, but that is
only one of her piquant little ways, which I early learned to overlook
and at last grew to like. She is both short and tall, lean and plump,
with straight hair and with curls, young and middle-aged, so that now it
affords me real pleasure to meet a new variety of her; but in all her
varieties she never fails to express her delight over my guarding with
care that which was 'the last thing on her neck before she passed over.'
I was extremely anxious to obtain a written acknowledgment of this
pleasure from Marie, and accordingly I took with me to one of the
seances a little trinket, and told the Spirit that I would give it to
her if she would just write down for me a few words expressive of this
pleasure, and, as she was disappearing into the Cabinet, I thrust a
writing-tablet and a pencil into her hand. Before the seance closed, she
reappeared to me, and handing me a paper claimed my promise. In full
faith I gave her the little breast-pin, and after the seance, to my
chagrin, I found the writing on the paper was not from her, but a
message from my 'father,' announcing that he had 'found the next life a
great truth,' which was, certainly, cheering, in view of the fact that
he was enjoying the present in so remarkably hearty and healthy a
manner.

For the next seance I provided an amber necklace, on whose clasp I had
'Marie' engraved, and when the Spirit of the fair French girl appeared,
I taxed her with her naughty, deceitful ways, and told her that I would
not give her the necklace, which I had brought for her, until she gave
me what I asked for, in her own writing. In a very few minutes she
reappeared and handed me a paper, whereon she had written: 'I am so glad
you have kept them so nicely, Your Marie.' (As her skull was shared by
Sister Belle, I suppose Marie was strictly logical, if ungrammatical, in
referring to it as 'them.') It was enough; in a few minutes after, Marie
reappeared wearing the amber beads glistening round her neck.

No sooner had I given the necklace than occurred another illustration of
the remarkable and amiable pliancy with which Materialized Spi