about to mention, at least, there was ground for very strong
suspicion of the honesty of the medium. The circumstances of the case
were as follows:

I had many years previously lost a brother--the same whom I have already
had occasion to mention in the earlier part of this letter. Now, at an
early stage of the series of sittings that took place at my house it was
intimated that the spirit of this brother was present and wishful or
willing to communicate with me. He did, as was proposed, communicate
very freely upon subjects of all sorts by means of raps under the table
and the letters of the alphabet spread upon it--on all subjects save
one. To the often-repeated question, where we had last met in life, I
could get no reply. It was constantly promised to me that I should be
answered this question at the next sitting. Now, it so happened that my
wife had conceived, reasonably or unreasonably, doubts as to the
medium's honesty in the matter, and she determined to try him in the
matter of this unanswered question. Talking one day with him in
tete-a-tete, she turned the subject of maladies of the chest, of which
they had been speaking, to the special case of her late brother-in-law,
discussing the powerful influence of climate, and remarking that she
feared Ostend had been a very bad place for him. And there she left the
matter without any further remark, and without eliciting any answer from
him. This occurred very shortly before the time when Mr. Hume left my
house to accept the hospitality of Mr. Powers. The sittings continued
with great frequency in the house of the latter, and my mother and
myself were very frequently present at them. As before, the
_soi-disant_ spirit of my brother Henry announced his presence,
and, as before, I repeated my often-asked question as to the place on
earth where he and I had last met. On this occasion the answer rapped
out consisted of the word "Ostend." I smilingly replied, "Spirit, you
know nothing about what you are talking of: you are wrong." Mr. Hume
became immediately very angry, and reproached me vehemently for
"interrupting the spirit"--for not waiting for what he was probably
going to say. It was likely enough, he added, that the spirit was about
to say that Ostend was _not_ the place. I said "Pshaw! In that way
he might go through the whole Gazetteer." Thereupon Mr. Hume declared
that I was evidently not in a fit frame of mind to be a sitter at such
meetings; that my presence w