ody she always called
me Mr. Blackdeed. I waited for some moments to hear if the voice would
say more.

After a long pause it spoke again, and said, "You called me. Wherefore?"

"Called you, Maud!" said I. "I called you not."

"The concentration of your thoughts has had the power to command my
spirit from afar," said the figure.

"Is it so?" said I. "And can you not battle against such commands?"

The figure replied not, save by a look, which seemed to say, "When you
command, no."

I understood the look, and felt flattered by its meaning, but knew not
how to respond, so I was silent for some moments.

At length I said, "Maud--if I may call you Maud--tell me, do you suffer
much when withdrawn from the body?"

"Less out of it than in it," was the reply.

"How so?" I asked.

"You know how I stand with my family," she said.

"True, true," I observed; "and this must cause you great pain. However,
I hope in time----"

"Never, never," she replied with a sigh.

"Oh, why not? Do you not wish to live happily with them?"

"Oh, how willingly!"

"Then let me see if I cannot make matters a little smooth for you.
Perhaps----"

She shook her head doubtfully, and said, "I feel as if I did not belong
to them nor they to me; in fact, I feel as if I never belonged to
anybody, nor ever should."

"And never should!" exclaimed I. "Why, you do not mean to say
that--that--you never intend to marry?"

"I fear I should make but an indifferent wife."

"Why so? I am sure you possess qualities that many married ladies might
envy. Of course, you would require a husband who understood you and was
able to appreciate your virtues."

"You flatter me," she said. "Nevertheless, you will see that I shall
never marry. Mark my words. I was not born for it. Do you know," she
said, lowering her voice, and speaking in a solemn tone, "that of late I
have had a strange presentiment that my end is not far off."

"Now, really, Maud," said I, "pray do not talk like that, for I
sincerely hope that nothing more serious than a little temporary
indisposition has given rise to such a presentiment."

"My health of late has been, if anything, better than usual. I do not
think this presentiment can be reasonably accounted for in that way. At
other times when I have felt at all poorly such a thought has never
occurred to me."

I merely shook my head and said that I hoped she would not encourage
these presentiments.

"William," she said, "remem