teries."

Presently it was announced that all things were fittingly prepared in
another chamber. Here, upon a table of polished wood, stood on the one
side a round stone with certain markings, a group of inscribed books,
and various other emblems; and on the other side a bowl of water, a
sphere of crystal, pieces of unwritten parchment, and behind all, and at
a distance away, a sheet of transparent glass, greater in height than
an ordinary person and as wide. When all were seated--the one who had
enticed me among them placing himself before the stone, the person
Pash guarding the books, the barbarian princess being surrounded by her
symbols and alone in a self-imposed solitude, and the others at various
points--the lights were subdued and the appearances awaited.

It would scarcely be respectful, O my enlightened father, to take up
your well-spent leisure by a too prolific account of the matters which
followed, they being in no way dissimilar from the manifestations
by which the uninitiated little ones of Yuen-ping are wont to amuse
themselves and pass the winter evenings. From time to time harmonious
sounds could be plainly detected, flowers and branches of wood were
scattered sparsely here and there, persons claimed that passing objects
had touched their faces, and misshapen forms of smoke-like density
(which some confidently recognised as the outlines of departed ones whom
they had known), revealed themselves against the glass. When this had
been accomplished, the lights were recalled, and the barbarian maiden,
sinking into a condition of languor, announced and foretold events and
happenings upon which she was consulted, sometimes replying by spoken
words, at others suffering her hand to trace them lightly upon the
parchment sheets. Thus, to an inquirer it was announced that one, Aunt
Mary, in the Upper Air, was well and happy, though undeniably pained at
the action of Cousin William in the matter of the freehold houses, and
more than sceptical how his marriage would turn out. Another was advised
that although the interest on Consols was admittedly lower than that
anticipated by those controlling the destines of a new venture entitled,
The Great Rosy Dawn Gold Mine Development Syndicate, and the name
certainly less poetically inspiring, the advising spirits were of the
opinion that the former enterprise would prove the more stable of the
two, and, in any case, they recommended the person in question to begin
by plac