man used up so; but I had to be
rough, and said: 'Yes, I _am_ a devil, Perkins, and you must pledge me
your word--yes, you must take a solemn oath before that God you have
called upon, that you will never expose me, or I will blow your brains
out!'"

"Splendid! splendid!" ejaculated Mrs. Winslow. "Did he do it?"

"I should say he did do it! He got down on his knees and begged like a
baby. And do you know, my blood was up so then, and I so despised him
for his want of manliness, that I came within an ace of killing the
infernal booby!"

"He deserved it!" said Mrs. Winslow sympathetically.

"After I had him nearly scared to death," resumed the marvellous medium,
"I began reasoning with him, and, by being excruciatingly tender,
convinced him that by exposing me he would gain nothing, but would lose
in everything that a man of spirit prided in--honor, social reputation,
and business standing, and drew a lively picture of his disgrace at the
clubs and in social circles, and of the cartoons which would certainly
appear in _Punch_ and the other comic papers; and the result was that I
held on to his affection and his purse-strings by compelling him to feel
that my detaining him in the room and threatening to shoot him was the
only thing which prevented him from rashly ruining both. Altogether,
Winslow, I got over two thousand pounds out of him. He wasn't deprived
of a first-class mistress while I remained in London, and--and we are so
good friends now that every little while I get a splendid remittance
from him; and if I ever should want to go back, I could have the very
best in all England!"

"Well, well, well!" murmured Mrs. Winslow for the want of something
better with which to express her admiration.

"I _do_ think I played it pretty well," resumed Miss Gray; "and I made
him swallow it all, too. He really believed everything from the moment I
fell into his arms until he caught me with the ropes. I was his
spirit-wife--" another hard wink--"and he my only affinity. Leveraux
helped me in the whole thing splendidly.

"Who is Mlle. Willie Leveraux?" inquired Mrs. Winslow.

"She is a sister of Ed. Johnson, the 'bank-burster,' and a keen girl,
too," answered the medium.

"How did you happen to get hold of her?"

"Well, you see, Ed. Johnson, Mose Wogle, Frank Dean--'Dago Frank'--and
Dave Cummings, with Chief of Police McGillan and Detective Royal, of
Jersey City, put up a job on the First National Bank there. McGillan